


The doll's name is...

by 09_cups



Category: Free!
Genre: Dolls, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-03-21 07:24:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3683253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/09_cups/pseuds/09_cups
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dollmaker Haruka receives an order for a pair of wooden dolls based on a photograph of two children. A simple order to fill.</p><p>Or so he expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The photo was of two children, a boy and a girl. The boy was dressed in a white tux and the girl, a poofy sea-green dress. Judging from the similarly attired people dancing in the background, it appeared to have been taken at a party. The boy had his arm slung over the girl’s shoulders and they both beamed at the camera.

“My children,” the woman said, a smile audible in her voice.

Haruka glanced from the picture to her and noticed that her greying red hair was reminiscent of the children’s fiery locks.

“The dolls are for my daughter,” the woman continued, pointing at the girl. “She’s been rather lonely with her older brother in Australia so I thought this might cheer her up.”

“Australia?” Haruka set the photo down on the counter and passed her the sizing chart.

“Yes, my boy’s going to be an Olympic swimmer.”

The words were said so confidently that Haruka was momentarily taken aback. He regained his cool expression though when she glanced up from the chart.

“This size here. How would it compare to say...the size of my hand?”

Haruka took a look.

“Roughly the size of your palm.”

“Hm. That sounds alright. I believe I’ll go with that then. Do you need anymore photos?”

“This one’s enough. I can have them done by Monday.”

“Wonderful! Thank you for accepting my order.”

Haruka nodded.

They exchanged information and he prepared her an invoice.

“See you on Monday,” she said, smiling on her way out.

“Until then, Matsuoka-san.”

Haruka shut the store door behind her and returned to the counter. He picked up the photo and the children smiled back.

 _A lonely girl and an Olympic hopeful_ , he thought, studying their tiny faces.

_Time to get to get work._

...

The tinkling of the store bell broke Haruka’s concentration. He put down his carving knife and the doll he had been working on and glanced out the window next to the table.

_Sunset, already?_

He began to get up when he heard a voice.

“Haru, it’s me!”

_Makoto._

Haruka sat back down.

A moment later, his smiling friend came through the workshop door. In his arms, he carried a large paper bag.

“Hey,” Makoto said. “Can I sit here?” He indicated the stool next to Haruka’s.

Haruka nodded. He picked up the knife and the doll and resumed carving.

Makoto sat down and put the bag on the table. He opened it and out wafted the smell of sweet bread.

“These were left over at the bakery today,” he said, pulling out a fluffy loaf. “I brought them for us to share.”

“Thanks, but I’m not very hungry.”

“Let me guess. Mackerel. And for breakfast at that.”

“…”

Makoto sighed.

“Come on, Haru. I’m sure you’ve been working all day. Set those down for a minute and have a bite?"

“I need to have this done by Monday.”

“It’s only Friday. You have lots of time.”

Haruka tried to ignore him and keep working, but he could feel Makoto’s concerned green eyes boring into him.

He reluctantly set the objects down.

“Hehe. I knew you were hungry.”

Haruka rolled his eyes. Nevertheless, he accepted the loaf his friend handed him.

Makoto told Haruka about his day at the bakery while they sampled the bread. It was a familiar routine, but one they went through everyday without complaint.

“...and when we were finally able to see through the smoke, we discovered that all of the buns had turned black! I’m not sure if Sasabe-san will ever let me near the ovens again...”

Makoto looked woefully down at the table and his eyes fell on the doll Haruka had been carving. He picked it up and Haruka watched as he turned it around in his fingers, eyes lighting up as he took in intricate details like the curls in its hair, its doe eyes, and smiling mouth.

“It’s beautiful, Haru. Who’s it for?”

“A mother placed an order for her daughter,” Haruka replied. He finished his bread and went to the smaller table across the room where he kept works-in-progress. He picked up the doll he had already carved and put together and returned with it to the main table where he placed it in front of Makoto.

“They’re meant to be replicas of the girl and her brother. This is the boy.”

Makoto carefully set down the first doll and picked up the other.

“Charming little guy,” he chuckled.

“The mother didn’t say what their names were. All I know is her last name. Matsuoka.”

“Hm. Maybe that’s for the best...”

“Makoto...”                       

“But Haru, remember what your grandmother said?”

Haruka frowned at his friend. His late grandmother’s words rang in his ears.

_“Names have power, Haru-chan. When you name something, the feelings connected to the name are conveyed. That’s true of dolls, and especially so when they're being made. A dollmaker’s a parent to a doll, after all, and like a parent, if they name their doll-child during its birth, they have the power to make it **real**.”_

“That’s just a superstition.”

"Well, it doesn’t hurt to be safe."

“...Fine. My grandmother  _did_  used to tell stories about finding accidentally-named dolls in different places than where she’d left them...”

Haruka had meant the words playfully but the sight of the colour drain from his friend’s face made him regret them.

“I-Is that so?” Makoto looked around nervously at the walls lined with dolls in various states of repair, as if the familiar workshop was suddenly new territory.

“Of course, that might’ve just been one of her helpers moving them around,” Haruka hastily cut in.

Makoto breathed a sigh of relief, but he was still pale.

Haruka moved the girl doll next to her brother on the centre of the table where Makoto had placed him. On a whim, he moved the boy doll’s arm around the girl’s shoulders in mimicry of the reference photo.

He looked up at Makoto and was relieved to see that some colour had returned to his face.

Makoto noticed him looking and smiled. He patted the boy doll’s carved hair with his index finger.

“You know, they kind of remind me of Ren and Ran.” 

Haruka could not help smiling as well, though he tried to be stern.

“Oi Makoto. Weren’t you the one nervous about naming them? And after your siblings at that.”

“Huh? I-I didn’t name them! I just meant-”

“I don’t think I can unmake the connection now.”

“Eh! H-How about...Hansel and Gretel instead? From the fairy tale?”

“They still have names, don’t they?”

“That’s true…”

“Good thing it’s just a superstition,” Haruka said pointedly.

“Yeah,” Makoto sighed.

Haruka picked up the dolls and carried them back to the in-progress table.

_That’s enough for today. I’ll complete the girl tomorrow._

He had just set them down when something occurred to him.

“Wait a minute”, he said, turning back to Makoto. “If they’re Hansel and Gretel and they’ve already got a parent, does that make me...the witch?”

Makoto burst out laughing, relieving the tension that had risen in the room.

“Careful around the oven then,” he joked.

Haruka sighed. “That’s the kind of joke Nagisa would make.”

“Heh, that's true. Oh, that reminds me. He came by the bakery earlier to stock up on _Iwato-bikkuri-pan_ and invited us to the bar tonight. I said I’d go. What about you?”

Haruka undid his work apron and placed it on the back of his chair.

“Sure. We can head out now, in fact.”

“Right now? Okay, let me just toss out this bag.”

Makoto went to the front of the store while Haruka tidied up. Once finished, he carried the reference photo of the children over to where he had put the dolls. The girl doll still had some way to go, but the boy doll’s resemblance to the child in the photo was remarkable.

The confidence in the mother’s voice when she had stated her son’s ambition had struck Haruka more than he cared to admit, and while he had prepared the doll that would become the boy’s replica, he began to wonder about him.

_How is he doing in Australia? Does he miss his sister too? I wonder what his name is..._

“Haru!” Makoto called from the front, startling Haruka. The photo fell from his hands.

“Are you done?”

“Yes,” Haruka replied. He bent down to pick the photo up. It had fallen face-down and for the first time, he noticed writing on the back. Curious, he held it up to the light.

“March X,” he read. “Rin-chan and Gou-chan at the wedding.”

He looked down at the boy doll, who smiled cheerily back.

“You don’t look much like a Hansel, but Gou doesn’t quite suit you either. Could your name be...”

“Haru?”

“...Rin?”

On his way out, Haruka glanced back at the dolls one last time. Only the girl doll was visible from his vantage point, the photo tucked beneath her.

He closed the door.


	2. Chapter 2

When they arrived at the bar, it was unexpectedly packed for so early in the evening. The air hummed with chatter and laughter, and one couple was even clumsily dancing on the dusty stage to jazz music playing over the bar’s sound system.

Haruka and Makoto both did a double take when they recognized the dancers as none other than Nagisa and Rei. Nagisa, facing the entrance they had just come through, saw them and began waving vigorously, directing Rei’s attention their way as well.

They waved back and Makoto even cheered, but when Nagisa began gesturing for them to join Rei and himself on stage, they hastily beat it to the tables.

Or tried to. Only, all of the tables were already taken, leaving the only seats available to be the stools near the counter.

To Haruka’s irritation.

“Hi Sousuke,” Makoto greeted warmly when they took their seats.

“Hey Makoto,” Sousuke, the bartender, grinned. His eyes moved to Haruka and the grin fell. “Nanase.”

Haruka only stared back.

“Business seems to be going great tonight,” Makoto hurriedly interjected. “Is anything special happening?”

“Yeah, actually.” Sousuke’s grin returned. “All our prices are lowered tonight in celebration of some good news.”

“Oh! What is it?”

Sousuke’s face seemed to colour slightly, but it was hard to tell under the bar’s dim lighting. He leaned over the counter to say something to Makoto in a low voice, close enough for Haruka to hear too, but he tuned it out, focusing instead on the serene movements of the colourful sea life in the aquarium behind the counter.

“Congratulations!" Makoto suddenly exclaimed. “Haru, isn’t that wonderful?”

Caught off guard, Haruka could not think of a reply.

“Distracted by that again?” Sousuke smirked, indicating the aquarium. “You’d better not be thinking of jumping in...”

“Sousuke...” Makoto began. “Are you ever going to let that go?”

“Gin and tonic,” Haruka stated before their bartender could reply.

Sousuke narrowed his eyes, but took the order. He took Makoto’s as well (malt beer) and then busied himself preparing the drinks.

A loud thud from the stage, followed by a collective gasp, drew Haruka and Makoto’s attention back to their dancing friends.

Rei was lying on his stomach, groaning, while Nagisa stood a foot away from him wearing a puzzled expression, arms raised as if-

_Did he...try to catch him?_

“I-I’m going to go check on him!” Makoto cried, scrambling off the bar stool. “Haru, hold the seats! We might need to lay him down on them!”

He ran to join Nagisa next to Rei, who had managed to sit up but was considerably red-faced.

The sound of a glass landing on the counter brought Haruka’s attention back to Sousuke.

“This bar attracts all the weirdos,” Sousuke muttered, eyes on the scene on the stage. He turned his stare pointedly at Haruka.

“That’ll be 600 yen,” he said, nodding towards the drink.

“What about the lowered price?”

“It could’ve been 650.”

Haruka frowned, but reached into his pocket for the money.

“Haru-chan~” A voice called.

Dropping the money into Sousuke’s palm, he turned to see Nagisa waving. He and Makoto were coming towards the counter with Rei propped between them. Haruka was about to wave back when Sousuke swore.

He turned back to him in surprise and followed his line of sight to his hand. What he saw there made his blood run cold.

Besides the bills and coins Haruka had felt leave his fingers seconds ago, there was something there he had not.

Sitting in Sousuke’s palm was the boy doll he was certain he had left behind in the store.

“Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?” Sousuke barked, shoving the doll at Haruka.

Lost for words, he accepted it.

“Hey Haru-chan!” Nagisa greeted, appearing at his side. Behind him, Makoto was helping Rei into a bar chair. “Did you see what happened to Rei-chan?” He looked down at the object in Haruka’s hands. “Eh? You brought a doll?”

The comment caught Makoto’s attention.

“You...didn’t you leave that back at the store?” He stared at the doll wide-eyed.

“I-I thought-”

“Nagisa-kun!” Rei interrupted. “Can you tell everyone _why_   that happened? I explicitly told you not to move from your spot! My calculations depended on it! But no, you just had-”

“Oi!” Sousuke cut in, glaring at Haruka. “If you’re done making a fool of me, are you going to pay for your drink or what? You still owe me 50 yen!”

He threw a bitter look at the doll in Haruka’s hand. Suddenly, his eyes grew wide.

“W-What is it?” Haruka put down the 50 yen and stuffed the doll into his pocket.

Sousuke furrowed his brow, but said nothing. He proceeded to take Nagisa’s order (one strawberry daiquiri for him and another for Rei as an apology).

Haruka stared down at his drink, the doll heavy in his pocket.

“Haru.”

He glanced at Makoto.

“About the doll-”

“I took it by accident,” Haruka lied. “Don’t worry. In fact, I think I’m going to go take it back.”

“What? Right n-”

“Eh???” Nagisa whirled on Haruka.

“Sorry Nagisa. Rei. But I’m going to get going.”

“But Haru-chan, we just sat down!”

“I’m planning on coming to your store this weekend for some fabric. You'll see me then. And Rei-” Haruka passed him his untouched drink. “For you.”

“Haruka-senpai...”

Nagisa pouted, but eventually heaved a sigh.

“Alright then. Rei-chan?”

“We’ll see you then,” Rei concluded.

Haruka declined his friends’ offers to accompany him out of the bar and made his exit.

Once outside, he examined the doll again.

He was expecting it to look different, sinister perhaps, but the cheery smile he had replicated from the photo was as pure as ever.

 _It has been a long day_ , he thought. _Maybe I really did accidentally take the doll…_

Somewhat reassured, Haruka set off.

…

When he arrived at the store, he went directly to the workshop. As he approached the table with the incomplete doll, he recalled Matsuoka-san’s words.

The girl doll certainly did look lonely sitting by herself in the gloom, and the fact that Haruka had yet to attach her arms and legs only added to the dismal picture. But, as soon as he put her brother down beside her, she seemed to brighten up.

Normally, he would wait till he had completed carving his dolls before putting them together, but all of a sudden, he felt a strange compulsion to put the girl doll together right away.

_I don’t have that much carving left to do anyways. Tomorrow, I’ll just work around the limbs._

After he had finished, he returned her to the place next to her brother.

Haruka looked at them for a moment longer, or at least until his eyelids grew heavy. With a yawn, he retreated to the front of the store to record the day’s data.

However, only minutes into the job, he nodded off.

...

He was rudely awoken by his head slipping from where he had rested it on his hand and striking the counter.

While he morosely rubbed his chin, he heard a strange noise that was gone almost as soon as it came. He stilled, waiting for it to occur again.

_Ting._

The sound of metal striking metal came from the workshop.

_Ting...Ting...Ting..._

Silently, Haruka padded to the door and pressed his ear against it. He tried to guess where the sound was coming from, but the only metal area he could think of was the window pane.

_A burglar?  But the lock’s in-_

Before he could finish the thought, another noise came to his attention.

Barely audible through the door, the noise was reminiscent of fingers drumming on a surface, but slightly more disconnected, almost like-

"The sound of tiny feet..."

He felt his heart drop as his grandmother’s stories came flooding back, along with the memory of the boy doll smiling at him from Sousuke’s palm.

Hand trembling, he grasped the knob. With an effort, he forced himself to relax and taking a deep breath, he opened the door.

Something inside gasped.

It was stranger than he had expected. A sight he had never seen before.

Standing by the windowsill, clutching a wrench twice its size, was the boy doll come to life.

Tiny features frozen in fear, he hardly looked at all like the cheerful doll Haruka had painstakingly carved. Stranger still, on his back, he carried the girl doll, her arms and legs arranged so that they were locked around him.

Heart racing, Haruka swallowed his shock and took a step forward.

The boy doll leapt back, almost causing his sister to fall off. He abandoned the wrench to save her.

“You,” Haruka began, voice unexpectedly calm. “What are you doing?”

The high, clear voice that answered him stripped his calm away.

“Stay back!” The boy doll shouted, frightened features replaced with angry ones. “Boil me or bake me, do whatever you want! But I **will** protect my sister!”


	3. Chapter 3

“I’m...not going to boil you...or bake you,” Haruka managed at last, staring wide-eyed at the defiant doll on the windowsill. “Why-”

“As if I’d believe you!”

The boy doll’s impossible voice sent a shiver down Haruka’s spine. Eyes on him, the doll inched towards the fallen wrench.

“I know,” he continued, “that you brought us here to eat us.”

_“H-How about...Hansel and Gretel instead? From the fairy tale?”_

Remembering Makoto’s words, Haruka furrowed his brow. Eating the children was what the witch in the fairy tale intended.

“But you’re made of wood.”

The comment seemed to infuriate the doll for, with a cry, he ran forward and grabbed the wrench.

“That’s...because,” he began, struggling under the wrench’s weight. “You put a spell on us! Now turn us back or...” Planting his feet, he raised the wrench toward Haruka like a sword. “Prepare yourself.”

“...”

The sight of the doll come to life was bizarre to begin with, but _that_ brought it to another level.

When Haruka had agreed to take over his grandmother’s doll store after graduation, it had been because it was familiar, the least stressful of his options. Or so he had expected.

Maybe he would have reconsidered if he had known being threatened by living dolls on Friday nights was part of the job description.

It was weird, far too weird. Haruka felt nervous laughter bubble up in his chest. When he tried to take a breath, he unintentionally giggled.

“Hey!” The doll exclaimed. “Don’t-”

Laughter followed at the giggle’s heels, doubling him over.

“Don’t even dream of laughing at me!!!”

_Dream? Could this be..._

The doll threw down the wrench and began stomping his feet.

“Mean old witch!”

_Witch? Like in the fairy tale... Ah. Then it must be..._

Haruka relaxed. The doll was still stomping and shouting, so he was caught off guard when he went forward and tried to grab him. He yelped and attempted to run, but Haruka was faster. In the commotion, the girl doll fell from his back.

“Gou!” The boy doll screamed.

Haruka caught her before she hit the ground. He expected her to wriggle furiously in his grip like her brother, but she was unexpectedly still. He brought her closer to eye-level and seeing her frozen smile, realized for the first time that she had not come to life as well. However, before he could ponder that further, another realization struck him.

“Gou? So then your name _is_ R-”

The boy doll clamped his jaws around his finger.

_Sharp!_

Haruka released him and he leapt to the hand that held his sister. But before he could bite him again, Haruka took hold of one of his arms and lifted him so that he dangled in front of his eyes.

The doll snarled and swung around.

“Let go of me, you wi-”

“I’m not a witch.”

The doll glared.

“Last thing I remember, I was at the wedding. Next thing, I'm here in this weird form with my sister like that. You put a spell on us, right?!”

“No, this is a dream.”

The doll stilled.

“What?”

“I'm a dollmaker and you’re dolls I've been commissioned to make. This,” Haruka said, to himself as much as to the doll, “is my dream where you've come to life.”

For a moment, the doll just stared, but then he shook his head.

“Your dream? No it's mine, probably!” He looked thoughtful. “I-Is this what my mom meant when she said not to watch scary anime or I'd dream about it?”

Haruka raised an eyebrow. He carried them to the main table. The girl doll, Gou, sat lifelessly like any other doll, and Haruka wondered why his dream had not animated her too. Her brother held her hand.

“This dream would be more fun if she was awake too...” The doll sighed and turned his eyes to the opposite wall that held shelves of old and in need of repair dolls. “So, dollmaker, are those all that’s left of the other kids you've eaten?”

“I told you, this is a dr-”

“Just kidding,” the doll chuckled, bearing pointy teeth.

Haruka caught his breath.

“Since this’s a dream,” the doll continued. “It’d be cool if we got along. I'm Matsuoka Rin, by the way.”

_Ah._

“Nanase Haruka.”

Rin held out a tiny hand and for a moment Haruka was confused, but then he understood. Taking it between his thumb and his forefinger, he shook it, oddly moved.

“You’ve got a nice smile,” Rin said, grinning toothily. “When you’re not laughing at me, that is.”

“Thanks.” Haruka began to reach for Rin but halted. “Can I...?”

“A-Alright.”

Haruka picked him up.

“Uh what?”

“Can you open your mouth?”

“Huh? Fine.”

Rin’s pointy teeth were startling to see, particularly since Haruka had not made him with any. Intrigued, he turned him around in his fingers, searching for any other changes the dream had made.

“Oi,” Rin said after a few minutes. “How long are you going to...” Two red spots appeared on his cheeks.

Startled, Haruka dropped him. He had not painted him either.

“Hey!” Rin cried. Deeper red splotches bloomed in his carved hair and brows, matching their colour in the reference photo. “Don't pick on me just because I'm small!” He glared at him through ruby-red eyes.

Haruka watched, transfixed, as an invisible paintbrush daubed colour on the rest of Rin’s body. Puzzled, the doll looked down.

“Woah!” He glanced excitedly at Gou but was disappointed to see that she had not changed as well. “Hey,” Rin said to Haruka. If you _are_ a real dollmaker, can you do something about her too?”

_If you are a real-_

The little guy was cute, but kind of annoying.

“I can't,” Haruka replied. “Not until I’ve finished carving her.”

“Okay, why don’t you do that now?”

Haruka frowned.

“I'm tired.”

“But this is a dream!”

He was right about that.

_So you can get tired in dreams. I never realized before._

“Hey Nanase, come on!”

“I already worked on you all day. I’m pretty sure I deserve a break.”

“But-”

Haruka gave him a stern look and Rin quieted down. For a second.

“You’ve at least got to give us clothes.”

“Huh?”

The red spots returned to Rin’s cheeks.

“I-It doesn't matter, you're dolls!”

“Oi-”

“I haven’t got any fabric, and I told you, I'm tired.” Haruka was about ready for the dream to end.

Rin pouted and muttered something inaudible.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Rin replied. Then under his breath, “Pervert.”

“...”

Haruka marched to the in-progress table, pulled out a drawer, and removed some clothing he had already begun on. He collected the necessary materials and returned to the dolls. Ignoring Rin’s cheers of victory, he got started, and from there, the dream turned into a blur of measuring, sewing, and tuning out the irritable doll’s chatter.

…

Haruka’s dream of living dolls was cut short by the ringing of his alarm clock.

Reluctantly, he opened his eyes and discovered that he was in his bed. He vaguely recalled going up the stairs to his living area at some point in the night, but it was mixed up with his dream which, in the strange way dreams worked, did not have a clear beginning or end.

His mind was too groggy right then to figure it out. He turned off the alarm and stumbled to the bathroom.

It was only after he slipped into the soothing bathwater that he truly began to wake, and while he soaked, his mind wandered to his weird dream.

The last he could make of it was completing the doll clothes Rin had demanded and dressing him and Gou. The maid outfits were well done for the little amount of time he had been given and he even managed to include a pair of frilly headpieces. Haruka liked how they turned out, but Rin had been another story, and the doll’s outraged protestations prompted him to beat a hasty retreat.

 _They looked cute though..._ Haruka sighed and sank under the water. _I’ll go by Nagisa and Rei’s soon for the real_   _fabric_ , he thought.  _All I have left to do is carve, paint, polish, make the actual clothes, and then they’ll be ready for Matsuoka-san._

He began to sink further when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his hand. Wincing, he lifted it out.

There was a bite mark on his finger.

“I-Isn't that-”

“Geronimo!” A high, clear voice exclaimed.

The small splash that followed was more shocking than if the roof overhead had suddenly come off. Haruka leapt back in surprise, sloshing water off the sides of the tub.

Rin floated belly up to the surface. He had a confused expression on his face that transformed into a grin.

“I was hoping this dream would have water! Hey Nanase, look at me swim!

Dream, Rin still thought, but the cold light of day streaming in through the bathroom window proved to Haruka at least, that it was not.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the long wait. School... ;_; This chapter's double the size of any of the previous ones, so there's that!

No matter how much Haruka pinched himself, the sight of the doll...Rin...swimming in his bathtub would not disappear.

“I-I’m not dreaming...”

Rin smirked. “Heh. So you finally admit. This is  _my_ dream.”

Haruka said nothing, only watched, astonished, as the doll did a few backstroke drills in the water between the tops of his knees, which took on the appearance of two small islands in comparison. Rin began to turn over, to try another stroke, but his light wooden body seemed to give him trouble. He tried again, but it was the same result.

“Uh. Can you...?”

Hesitantly, Haruka reached out a hand and flipped him onto his front.

“Thanks,” Rin said, and settled into the front crawl.

In spite of...well, everything, Haruka could not help but notice that Rin was rather good at that one, particularly the kick, though his strokes were somewhat rough.

He shook his head.  _This isn’t the time for that. What the hell is going on?_

Rin slowed to a leisurely pace and turned his head toward him.

“I’m one of the best at free in my age group,” he declared. “Though I’m especially good at butterfly. In fact-”

Distracted, he veered into one of Haruka’s knees, and rolled over again onto his back.

Haruka flipped him onto his front once more.

Rin was red-faced.

“T-That only happened because this body’s made of wood,” he said defensively. “I’m just not used to it, okay?”

“You’re,” Haruka began slowly. “Going to Australia, right? To swim?”

Rin brightened.

“Yeah! How did you-Right, this is a dream.” He took a breath. “I’m going to become an Olympic swimmer. Going there will help me grab hold of my ambition.”

Haruka shifted slightly, unwittingly causing the water to move, and Rin to almost turn over again, but the doll managed to ride the wave.

“I’m leaving right after the wedding.”

“Earlier, you said the last thing you remembered was being at a wedding.”

“I remember falling asleep there,” Rin replied. “After-” He abruptly broke off, a dark look on his face.

Haruka did not push it.

While Rin still believed he was in a dream, Haruka was now fairly certain he was not. Daylight confirmed it.

_Then...my grandmother’s stories about dolls, accidentally named during their production, coming to life were...real?_

He remembered how Makoto had hastily named the dolls Hansel and Gretel the previous night. Rin calling him a witch and accusing him of wanting to eat them was definitely reminiscent of the fairy tale, but then, why had Gou not come to life too? And had not his grandmother specified that only the name the dollmaker gave could bring the doll to life?

_“Could your name be... Rin?”_

Haruka furrowed his brow.

“But, I’ve done it once or twice before and nothing like this has ever-”

“What?” Rin asked.

It was Haruka’s turn to break off. He had not realized that he had begun to speak aloud.

Rin gave him a weird look and returned to practicing the front crawl.

 _What will he do when he finds out he’s not dreaming?_ Haruka wondered, watching him.  _Should I say something?_ His eyes widened.  _What do I tell Matsuoka-san?_

“Ahem.”

Haruka glanced down and saw Rin staring at him intently.

“What?”

“Your body...” Rin began.

“What.”

The doll eyed him critically.

“You’ve got a swimmer’s body. Do you swim too?”

Haruka sank a little further into the water.

“I used to.”

“Huh? Not anymore?”

Haruka did not reply. He sank deeper, pulling the water in along with Rin. The doll bumped lightly into his collarbone.

“Hey Nanase, I want to see you swim.”

“We’re in water now.”

“This doesn’t count. Come on, you live in this dream. Take me to a pool.”

“How demanding,” Haruka grumbled, but a smile tugged at his lips. A swim would clear his mind for sure. Rin may have been annoying, but that was not a bad idea.

He sank under the water completely, making Rin yelp, and when he rose, he found him sprawled on his head. Haruka offered him a hand, which he leapt onto, and put him on his shoulder. When he shook the water out of his hair, Rin shrieked with laughter.

 _Whatever’s going on_ , he thought as he climbed out of the tub.  _There’s nothing I can do right now to change it._

He grabbed a towel to dry.

_There’s no point in resisting. I’ll follow this where it takes me._

“So what do you say? Are we taking this dream to a pool?”

“How much more waterlogged do you want to get?”

“I’m fine. I’m waterproof, aren’t I?”

“You can tell?”

“I’m a swimmer. This doesn’t seem like a nightmare, at least, not anymore, so I expect no less.”

Haruka smiled at his logic. In truth, due to his tendency to jump into bodies of water, like Sousuke’s treasured aquarium, dolls on his person were at risk, so he always made sure to polish them with waterproof solvents.

As he dressed, he realized something.

“Hey...what happened to your maid outfit?"

The doll blanched, and nervously glanced back at the tub. Haruka followed his gaze.

Somehow he had missed it in all the confusion, but scattered in the water were various pieces of the maid outfit.

“I wasn’t a fan, but I didn’t do that on purpose!” Rin cried, as Haruka fished the pieces out.

The dress and apron were intact, but the ribbons were gone, along with the headpiece.

“I saw the water and I kind of just...”

Haruka shook out the excess water from the garments and before long, they were almost entirely dry.

“You made a  _waterproof_  maid dress?” Rin said, incredulous.

“You never know,” Haruka replied sagely. “And as I said last night, I don’t have the fabric yet for your clothes, or any other doll clothes for that matter. I was intending to get the fabric tomorrow, but I guess I could-”

“It’s fine,” Rin interrupted, and to Haruka’s surprise, he crawled down his arm and leapt to the edge of the tub where he had laid the garments. “Since it’s waterproof, it won’t give me trouble if I jump into water again. But.” He gave Haruka an intense look. “This is only until you’re done with the other clothes, okay? It’s not like I think this is kind of cool or anything.”

“Got it,” Haruka said, and dropped his towel on top of Rin.

“Oi!”

While the doll wriggled under the towel, Haruka went to the sink to brush his teeth. Through the mirror, he saw Rin crawl out, wearing what was left of the maid outfit. He jumped off the edge of the tub, ran toward him, and began the arduous climb back up to his shoulder. When Haruka offered him a hand, he batted it away.

“This is...training,” he panted.

By the time he made it to his shoulder, Haruka was ready to leave.

When they reached the landing, Rin climbed down and hurried towards the workshop. Haruka headed to the store’s front room, and as he had feared, he found the data sheets from the previous night strewn carelessly over the counter. Irritated, he rearranged them, and after unlocking the store door (though leaving the 'closed' sign as it was), he returned to the counter and picked up where he had left off, almost as if the curious events since then had not transpired.

However, the tiny hand that knocked on his foot proved that was not the case.

He glanced down and saw Rin had brought his sister. The doll inclined his head and Haruka lifted them up. They settled on the counter with their backs against a dolphin-shaped paperweight and silently watched his progress.

Given Rin’s abundant chatter earlier, it was rather unnerving. Haruka looked at them sternly.

“What?”

“Can you fix her now?”

“I intend to after I’m done this.”

“...Fine.”

As he resumed working, the dolls resumed their creepy stare. In spite of his efforts to ignore them, it reminded him of something.

“How did you get into my pocket last night?”

“I snuck in when you weren’t looking, and hung onto your sleeve that time you reached in.”

“Why?”

“I had to see what you were up to.”

“And from what you saw, you determined I was a witch?”

Rin shrugged.

“That place you went to was pretty shady. Adults like that kind of thing?”

“It was just a bar. Anyways, don’t do that again.”

“What’s the big deal? You don’t expect me to spend my entire dream here do you?

Haruka frowned. He was not sure what would happen if anyone found out about Rin, but he got the feeling that it would be quite troublesome.

“Everything looks  _so_  different at this size. I’ve got to got out and see more. Like, a pool! Can you imagine how amazing  _that_  would be?”

Haruka pictured it and came away feeling more than a little jealous.

“By the way, you never answered me before. Can we go to a pool?”

“One minute you tell me to fix your sister, the next, you tell me that. Which is it?”

“Gou,” Rin replied without hesitation. “I didn’t mean we had to go right now. Besides, you haven’t said if we’re going  _at all_.”

“We’ll go, but you have to pretend you’re just an ordinary doll.”

“What?!” Rin leapt to his feet. “Why?”

Haruka tried to think of what he could say without revealing to Rin that he was not dreaming.

“Because...I-It’s part of the dream,” he managed.

“According to who?”

“Me,” Haruka said. “I live in it, after all.”

Grumbling, Rin paced the length of the counter, kicking at stray papers.

Haruka sighed and put down his pencil.

“Bring me your sister.”

Rin whirled around.

“You mean it?”

“Yes, now-”

The tinkling of the store bell cut Haruka short. Without even glancing at who had come in, he hurriedly grabbed Rin and hid him behind the desk. The doll released a muffled shout, but Haruka covered his mouth with his thumb.

“Hello Nanase-san,” the customer said, standing half in, half out of the door. “I-Is it too early? I saw that the sign was set to 'closed,' but since you were at the counter, I thought...”

“Nitori,” Haruka replied. “It’s fine. Come in.”

Nitori smiled gratefully and came forward.

“I was just wondering how those dresses you were making for me were coming along. The maid ones?”

_Uh oh._

Rin, who had been struggling in his grip, became still.

“I know it’s a bit early, but the dolls I’d ordered them for arrived earlier than I’d expected, so...”

“They’re not quite finished, but if you come by early next week-”

“Ah that’s not a problem. But um would it be alright if I took a peek?”

“I don’t usually allow that...”

“O-Oh.” Nitori’s eyes fell, and Haruka felt a twinge of guilt, but in a second, they lit up again.

“How lovely!” He suddenly exclaimed. “Nanase-san, this doll-”

He indicated Gou, still sitting on the counter.

_I forgot her!_

“-is wearing one of my maid dresses, isn’t she? Why, it’s exquisite!”

“H-Her measurements were similar to the dolls you’d wanted them for,” Haruka improvised, while trying to hold on to Rin, who had begun struggling again, behind the table. “I’ve been using her as a mannequin.”

“She’s even lovelier than the dress,” Nitori gushed. “If you were to fix her up a little, I’d be happy to buy-”

Rin got his jaws around Haruka’s thumb, and bit him so hard he cried out and let him go.

“Nanase-san! Are you alright?”

“Y-Yes,” Haruka said, clutching his throbbing thumb, while scanning the floor for the escaped doll. “A splinter...”

Nitori gasped, and Haruka glanced up sharply to find him staring at none other than Rin, perched on the edge of the counter, smiling frozenly like an ordinary doll.

“Ooh Nanase-san! This doll is so-”

_Pushy. Annoying._

“-beautiful! I can’t believe you’re using such a fine doll as a mannequin!”

Before Haruka could object, Nitori delicately picked Rin up. Eyes sparkling, he turned the seemingly lifeless doll around in his fingers.

_How can he stay so still?_

“Please,” Nitori implored. “Let me buy this doll.”

Rin’s frozen smile remained, but Haruka noticed him get paler.

“I’m afraid he’s not for sale.”

Nitori bit his lip, but after a moment, he nodded solemnly.

“I understand,” he said. “I wouldn’t give up a doll like this either. He’s absolutely perfect!”

"He’s...something special, alright. About your dresses-"

“Take your time, Nanase-san.” Nitori, a little reluctantly, handed Rin to Haruka. “I’ll come again to check in, and say hi to-”

“Rin.”

“Rin too. Until then!”

The moment he left, Rin bit Haruka again.

“Ow! Quit that!”

The doll squirmed out of his grasp and landed on the counter. Hands balled at his sides, he glared furiously at him.

“You jerk! How could you put my sister in danger like that?!”

“I wasn’t going to sell her. Calm down.” Haruka reached for Gou, to take her to the workshop, but Rin ran up and grabbed her arm.

“What are you doing? Didn’t you want me to fix her?”

“I don’t want you anywhere near her!” Rin shouted, trying to pull her away.

“Hey, be care-”

The warning came too late as Rin gave her arm such a tug that it popped out of the socket. He stumbled back in horror, clutching it.

“Rin!” Haruka exclaimed angrily. He checked for damage to Gou’s arm socket and was relieved to see none. He turned on Rin, but the rebuke died on his lips.

The doll was crying.

Large,  _impossible_  tears fell from his painted eyes and onto the wooden limb he clutched to his chest.

“H-Hey now, it’s...okay.” Haruka gently took the arm from him and reattached it to Gou. “See? She’s alright.”

He passed her to Rin, who pulled her into a hug, and began crying even harder.

“Gou,” he sobbed. “I’m so sorry. For this, and for having to leave you behind...”

_Back then?_

“I’ll really miss you...”

It dawned on Haruka.

 _He means Australia_ , he realized. _Oh yes, the reason why Matsuoka-san wants the dolls, in the first place, is to keep Gou company while Rin is abroad._

“She’ll be fine,” Haruka said suddenly, surprising Rin and himself. “I...was on my own a lot when I was a child, and I managed. I didn’t have any brothers or sisters, but I had my grandmother.” Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei’s faces came to his mind. “And my friends. Your sister will manage too.” A thought occurred to Haruka. “And so will you.”

Rin’s eyes were still wet but, to Haruka’s relief, his tears fell less and less.

“Besides,” Haruka continued. “She’s been pretty tough in this dream so far, right?”

Rin ran a knuckle over his eyes, and like the sun emerging through stormy clouds, he smiled.

He did not complain when Haruka carried them to the workshop, but grew somewhat weary when he brought out his carving tools.

“This isn’t going to hurt her, is it?”

“Did it hurt you?”

“I remember being like this from the start.”

“Well...she isn’t like you, so I think she’ll be fine. I’ve only got a little carving left, anyways."

“But-”

“I’ll be careful.”

Rin hung by Haruka’s elbow, watching gravely, as he painstakingly carved her, and did not relax until he put down the carving knife and picked up a paintbrush.

“Rin,” Haruka began, while he carefully filled in Gou’s eyes. “How  _did_  this dream start for you?”

“When I...woke, I was sitting on that table over there, and you were standing in front of me with a funny look on your face. I...think you’d called my name.”

_“Could your name be... Rin?”_

“Weren’t you scared?”

Rin gave him a small smile. “Terrified.”

“You were scary too, you know. You scared Makoto.”

“Is that your friend with the green eyes?”

“Yes.”

If Makoto had been scared before, Haruka could only imagine how he would react to Rin now.

 _I’ll keep them apart until whatever’s going on sorts itself out_ , he decided.

A few hours later-interrupted only to eat (and make the somewhat frightening discovery that Rin really liked meat), and some trips to the front to attend customers-Gou was complete, and looked almost as lifelike as her brother.

“But she’s still an ordinary doll!” Rin protested after failing to rouse her.

“...It could be that’s part of the dream as well.”

“Like me having to pretend to be one at the pool?” Rin said unhappily. “This’s so unfair.”

Haruka did not know what to say. He began to clean up.

Rin laid down and stared woefully at the ceiling. Haruka noticed that he still held Gou’s hand.

“Maybe it’s a good thing,” Rin sighed. He let her go and rolled onto his side. “She’d probably be mad at me otherwise.”

Before Haruka could ask him what he meant, Rin sat up and looked at him determinedly.

“Can we go swim now?”

_I can close early today. It’s the weekend after all._

“Yeah.” Haruka offered his hand for Rin, with Gou, to climb onto, and left the workshop.

“Don’t forget,” he told Rin as they went upstairs to get his swim gear. “You have to pretend to be an ordinary doll.”

“...We’ll see.”

“...!”

They were still arguing when they returned downstairs.

“If you don’t, I’ll leave you behind.”

“I’ll follow you like I did before.”

“Fine, I won’t go.”

“But Nanase,” Rin chuckled. “You’re already out the door!”

Haruka gave the doll lounging on his shoulder a dirty look. Rin burst out laughing, and all of a sudden he had to fight to retain his frown. He locked the door and turned around, about to give the doll a piece of his mind-

“Haru?”

-when he came face to face with Makoto, standing in front of the store, his eyes fixed on Rin and wide with horror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm having a lot of fun writing this random story lol Though I wasn't expecting it get this long... There'll be ~~three~~ ~~four~~ five more chapters (I think).


	5. Chapter 5

“M-Makoto,” Haruka managed, quickly raising a hand to cover Rin. “I...was just about to go to the pool.”

“I-Is that so?” Makoto’s voice was noticeably higher than usual and his eyes were glued on Haruka’s hand over the doll. “I b-brought some pastries,” he said, holding up a plastic bag. “But, I guess I can always-”

“It’s fine,” Haruka replied, turning back to the door to unlock it-as well as to discreetly drop Rin into the opening of his swim bag from which Gou peeked.

“Nanase,” Rin whispered. “We’re not going?”

“Shh.” Haruka glanced at Makoto shifting uneasily behind him. “Come on,” he said, leading the way inside.

“Haru...” Makoto began on the threshold.

“I’ll meet you upstairs,” Haruka interrupted, walking toward the workshop.

Makoto made as if to speak again, but seemed to decide against it. Haruka waited until he was on the stairs before going in.

“What’s going on?” Rin demanded when Haruka took him and his sister out.

“I can’t let Makoto see you. Stay here.”

“What? But, the pool!”

“It’ll have to wait.”

“I don’t get it though! Why do I have to hide from him?”

“He’s...scared easily. I told you before.”

“I-I’ll be nice, you’ll see! Then we can all go to the pool together and-”

“No,” Haruka said, more forcefully than he intended.

Rin looked at him with a hurt expression.

“We...we will go,” Haruka said hastily. “Just, not now.”

“...”

He carried the dolls to the main table, where Rin climbed out of his hands immediately and sat with his back to him and his arms crossed.

“Rin?” Haruka carefully put Gou down beside him.

The doll answered with stony silence.

Haruka sighed and left. Right before the door closed though, he saw Rin turn, glaring tearfully.

On the other side, Haruka stood with his hand on the knob and a curious, heavy feeling in his heart.

 _It’s for the best_ , he told himself. _For Makoto, and for Rin as well._

He headed for the stairs.

Haruka found Makoto sitting in his living room, absentmindedly flipping through television channels. When he called his name, he jumped and dropped the remote, which landed on a channel broadcasting a swimming tournament.

“Sorry,” Makoto said, bending to pick the remote up. He glanced at the television. “And for stopping you on your way to swim too.”

“I told you, it’s fine.” The match right then was men’s 200 metre free, Haruka noted. He sat next to Makoto and took a pastry from the bag he had brought.

“Meat filling,” he commented, after taking a bite.

“Mmhm. I was at the counter all day after the...er incident with the burnt buns, so I didn’t make any, but I was allowed to watch the process during my break.”

“They’re good.” _I’ll save one for Rin._ “Next time you guys should use mackerel.”

Makoto smiled. “I’ll be sure to tell Sasabe-san you said so. Or, if you let me use your kitchen, I could make some specially for you.”

Haruka choked a little on his next bite. “Yeah...”

He glanced at Makoto out of the corner of his eye.

_He doesn’t seem nervous, at least, anymore... Did he really see Rin?_

He turned his attention to the tournament and pretended to be absorbed with the swimming. Makoto watched as well, and for a time neither of them said anything.

“Do you ever miss it?” Makoto asked eventually.

“Hm? I swim whenever I get the chance.”

“Competitively, I mean. You had all those scouts after you in high school. Have you ever imagined what life would’ve been like if, to any of them, you’d said yes?”

“I don’t,” Haruka lied.

“Really?”

“I...never cared about my time, and besides, my grandmother needed me at the store.”

“But your parents were willing to hire help, right?”

“Makoto...”

Makoto bowed his head. “Sorry, I’ll stop.”

“Why are we having this conversation, anyways? Don’t tell me it’s only because of this tournament.”

“Well,” Makoto said. “It’s been a while since I last saw you close the store early to go swimming. You used to do it all the time when you first took over, but after a while, you stopped.”

 _Rin made me_ , Haruka wanted to say. _Rin and his wish to see a pool, and his incomprehensible ambitions._

He took another pastry-

“Does it have anything to do with the d-doll I saw m-moving and l-laughing on your shoulder?”

-and promptly dropped it. He turned to his friend, wide-eyed.

“You’re not scared?”

Makoto paled. “So I didn’t imagine that?”

“Makoto-”

“I a-am scared,” Makoto managed. “But you don’t seem to be, so... _s-should_ I be?”

Haruka shook his head. “He can be irritating...but he’s harmless.”

Makoto gulped. “Haru, how...?”

Haruka told him about the names on the back of the reference photo and how he accidentally named Rin.

“That’s all it took?" Makoto asked, astonished.

“I’m surprised too. Nothing like this has ever happened before.”

“Could it be because he’s based on a real boy?”

“Maybe, but Gou didn’t come to life though.”

“Hm...I think there’s more to a doll coming to life than the dollmaker naming it during its production. Remember that part, from your grandmother’s words, that went: “When you name something, the feelings connected to the name are conveyed”? It seems to suggest that the dollmaker’s feelings are transferred to the doll through the naming, doesn't it? Maybe it’s those powerful feelings that really give the doll life. Haru, when you named him, did you...feel anything?”

_“Could your name be... Rin?”_

Remembering, Haruka’s cheeks flushed. 

_Yes._

He drew up his legs and hid his face in his arms.

“H-Haru?”

“Rin...intends to be an Olympic swimmer,” Haruka mumbled. “He’s going all the way to Australia to try to become one.” Well aware of what the next part would mean in light of their earlier conversation, he lowered his voice. “After his mother told me that-”

_“How is he doing in Australia? Does he miss his sister too? I wonder what his name is...”_

“-I sort of wished I knew him...”

He peeked out of the cover of his arms at Makoto. A mistake. His friend’s knowing smile irked him.

Makoto put a hand on his shoulder.

“Haru,” he said gently. “Can I meet him?”

Haruka lifted his head.

“Will you tell me to take him to the authorities?”

Makoto looked insulted.

“We watched _E.T._ together, didn’t we?”

Haruka smiled, but a moment later his expression became grim.

“Rin has all the memories of the actual boy,” he said. “He thinks he’s in a dream.”

“Oh... Are you going to tell him the truth?”

“I...have a feeling he won’t react well to that.”

Haruka recalled something Rin had said.

_“This doesn’t seem like a nightmare, at least, not anymore...”_

He did not want to have to correct him.

“The last thing he remembers is falling asleep,” Haruka said. “So maybe he _is_ dreaming.”

“In that case...I wonder when he’ll wake up.”

Haruka experienced a sinking feeling at the words.

“Let’s go,” he told Makoto, hurriedly getting up.

“O-Okay!”

...

In front of the workshop door, Haruka paused.

“Don’t freak out.”

“I won’t,” Makoto insisted, though he was clutching the back of Haruka’s shirt.

After giving him a long look, Haruka turned the knob.

“Rin,” he called as they went in. “I’ve brought Makoto.”

The doll did not reply, to which, after the way they had parted, Haruka was not surprised, but he and Gou were not on the table where he had left them either.

“Rin?”

Haruka surveyed the room, but the dolls were nowhere to be seen.

“He’s probably sulking somewhere,” he told Makoto. “I’d upset him earlier...”

“Lets check under the tables then. Ren and Ran used to hide in places like that when they were little.”

“He’s much more little than they were,” Haruka replied, but still crouched down to check. “...I don’t see him.”

Makoto crouched down as well.

“Ah! Over there!”

Makoto pointed toward a crumpled white cloth lying under the window.

Haruka went and picked it up, and discovered it was one of the headpieces he had made to go with the maid outfits.

_Rin lost his, so this must be Gou’s._

“Haru,” Makoto said gravely. “The window...”

“...!”

It was ajar, with the broken lock lying on the sill next to the wrench Haruka had caught Rin striking it with the night before.

He lifted it, remembering the sight of the doll brandishing it like a sword.

 _They’ve run away..._  Haruka thought, his grip around the wrench loosening.

“Haru!” Makoto suddenly exclaimed. “Look!”

He drew Haruka’s attention to the yard outside of the window and the fence beyond. He caught a glimpse of red hair.

“RIN!”

The doll, carrying his sister on his back, froze in the middle of squeezing through a gap between the pickets. 

When Rin saw Haruka, he grinned broadly-

_Is that...a challenge?_

-and in a flash, he slipped through the fence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter's going to be a wild ride haha Thanks for following this story!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for keeping you waiting. The new semester's been tough :( This one's 3k!

Makoto was saying something, but Haruka could not pay attention. He pushed the window open wider and lifted his knee onto the sill.

“H-Haru!” Makoto tried but failed to grab him before he climbed out.

“Go out through the front,” Haruka said, getting to his feet in the yard. “You might be able to block Rin’s way.”

“But-Ahhhhh alright! Be careful now!”

Once through the fence, Haruka searched for the runaway dolls.

“Nanase~” A voice sing-songed.

He spun toward it and spotted Rin peeking around the corner of the house.

The doll gave him another grin and sped off.

_What is he thinking?_

Haruka heard a thump right as he rounded the corner and found Makoto sitting sprawled in front of the store.

“Haru...” Makoto was wide-eyed. “I...tried to block his way like you said, but h-he slipped through my legs. That was _so_ strange.”

Haruka helped him up. "Did you see where he went?"

Makoto pointed to further down the seemingly empty street to Rin, with Gou on his back, running nearly as fast as his miniature legs would carry him. Rin happened to glance back right then and, seeing Haruka, increased his speed.

Haruka started to go after after him, but Makoto held him back.

“Oi! What are you-”

“Wait a sec, Haru! Look!”

Makoto held out a scrap of paper that contained a few haphazardly scrawled lines.

“We’re going to the pool ahead of you,” Haruka read. “I can smell the chlorine from here...”

“I was trying to tell you earlier; it was under the wrench.”

“That idiot,” Haruka muttered.

“You follow him from here, and I’ll take a shortcut to get ahead. I won’t let him get past me again, I promise!”

While Makoto went around back, Haruka resumed the chase.

“Rin! Stop!”

The doll glanced back and stuck out his tongue.

_Does he think this is a game?_

Haruka picked up his pace and before long, he and the dolls were only a few feet apart.

_Three feet...two feet...one-_

He bent so that they were inches away and-

“Wow! Is that a moving doll?!”

-barely managed to save himself from falling. While Rin sped ahead, Haruka turned a dark glare on the person who had spoken.

“Eek! Scary!” The orange-haired boy dramatically toppled off his bike.

Haruka grabbed him by the back of his collar.

“Mech...anical doll,” he huffed. “Wound up...too much. Help...me catch him.”

“Eh? No way!” The boy struggled to escape. “I’m on my way to meet _real_ dolls! Girls! I haven’t got time to play with toys!”

“I see.” Haruka let him go. “I’m the dollmaker who made that mechanical doll and I would’ve given you a discount on one if you’d helped me.” He turned away. “Oh well.”

“W-Wait!” The boy grabbed his arm. “Really?”

“Yes. I would’ve taken a percentage off any design that you wanted mechanized.”

“Any design, you say? Even...a stag beetle?”

“Of course.”

The boy bounced on his heels. “I’ll do it! I’ll do it!”

“Good,” Haruka replied. “Will you lend me your bike?”

“Climb on the back!”

“...” It had not been what Haruka had intended but he did, and they rode away.

Rin had run quite far, but with the bike they overtook him quickly.

“That’s cheating!” He accused, when they were side by side.

The boy almost lost control of the bike.

“He can talk?!”

“I don’t recall this being a competition,” Haruka told Rin.

He leaned over and tried to grab him, but the doll dodged.

“Well, you’re not going to win,” Rin called back.

Haruka made another attempt to grab him, but he dodged again. All of a sudden, a shirtless figure ran out of a side street and blocked the way ahead.

The bike braked in time, but Rin was not so lucky. Unable to decrease his momentum, he ran straight into the figure.

“I got him!” Makoto cheered.

Haruka got off the bike and ran toward him. Makoto opened the impromptu net he had made using his shirt.

There was a doll there, but it was not Rin.

“Gou? Then Rin’s...”

Haruka searched the ground and sure enough, Rin was lying dazed by Makoto’s feet.

Triumphant, he bent down to collect him, when something tawny and sleek leapt between them. Haruka caught a glimpse of pointed ears, violet eyes, and felt cool fur brush against his palm. The space where Rin had been lying was empty.

“...!”

Haruka turned and found the cat weaving around a startled Makoto. It held Rin loosely in its jaws.

The doll’s frightened eyes met his.

_“Nanase!”_

Haruka lunged at the cat but it leapt into a dim alley. Ignoring Makoto and the boy’s calls, he ran after it.

The alley brightened as the street at the end came closer. Haruka prepared himself to follow the cat out, but suddenly, a woman crossed the alley’s mouth.

He forced himself to halt, but it was too abrupt. He fell to his knees, his hands breaking his fall. The cat spit Rin out at the woman’s feet and, screeching, it ran off.

Haruka tried to rise, but his right hand stung. Turning it over he realized he had scraped it.

“That doesn’t look good,” a voice said.

Haruka looked up and saw the woman standing above him. The light from the street made it hard to see her face.

Rin, frozen, was in her hands. Seeing Haruka looking, she held him out.

“Is this yours?”

Haruka reached for Rin but the pain in his hand made him grimace. The woman noticed and produced a handkerchief.

“Here, wrap your hand with this.”

Haruka only stared at it.

The woman laughed.

“You’re right to look like that. This handkerchief isn’t actually mine, but I know the owner will be alright with it."

Before Haruka could protest, the woman took his hand and began wrapping the cloth around it. She knelt down to do so and her face came into focus.

Haruka gasped.

_Matsuoka-san?_

“...There.” The woman put in the final touches and gave him a smile.

_No, she’s younger... Who is she?_

At the sound of footsteps, they turned to see Makoto and the boy.

“Haru, are you okay?!”

“I fell. It’s no big deal.” Haruka got to his feet and offered the woman his good hand. She remained kneeling, gaping at Makoto who was still shirtless.

Haruka cleared his throat.

“Oh! P-Pardon me!” Makoto clumsily covered himself with his bunched up shirt.

The boy gawked at the woman from behind him.

“No, it’s me who should-” The woman accepted Haruka’s hand, and with her other, did a poor job of covering her eyes with Rin.

“The doll!” Makoto exclaimed.

The woman lowered Rin and smiled down at him.

“It’s not everyday such a cutie falls at my feet. What an intriguing doll. It looks just like... Nevermind, that’s silly.”

She returned Rin to Haruka.

“Thank you,” he said, holding the doll at last. “And for the handkerchief. I can wash and return it to you soon.”

“No need to hurry. You can find me at-Ah, wait, could you help me with something?”

The woman held out a piece of paper.

“I’m trying to get somewhere, but these directions...”

“I’ll be happy to help!” The boy chimed in. He strode forward and made a show of gallantly accepting the paper.

“From the building with the red roof,” he read, “go in the direction where the air’s warmer. Go forward until you reach a building with an orange door. From there, follow the scent of baking bread until-W-What’s with these directions?!”

“They’re a little vague...” Makoto added.

“The person who gave them to me means well, but...” The woman sighed.

“Do you know the name of your destination?”

“Yes, I’m looking for a bar called ‘The Whale Shark’.”

“Ah, that’s Sou-”

“Hey, I’m heading there too!” The boy clasped the woman’s hands. “Will you grant me, Mikoshiba Momotarou, the honour of accompanying you there?”

“Uh o-okay. Thanks.”

“Yahoo! Follow me, Miss!”

 _He’s forgotten about the discount_ , Haruka noted.

The woman turned to him.

“Ask for me at The Whale Shark,” she said. “But there’s no need to rush. Take care of your hand first.”

Rin sat up in Haruka’s palm as they watched her go. Haruka saw he wore a curious expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s...something really familiar about her,” Rin said.

Haruka glanced back at the woman.

_Oh. I didn’t get her name._

“Gou!” Rin suddenly exclaimed.

“What?”

“My sister! We got separated earlier! Where is she?!” Rin began struggling.

“Oi R-”

“She’s right here,” Makoto said, presenting Gou to Rin. “She’s fine.”

“Thanks!” Rin took her from him and hugged her.

Makoto’s twinkling eyes met Haruka’s. His excitement was palpable.

“Rin, this is Makoto.”

“Hi,” Makoto greeted.

Rin offered him his hand.

“Hello,” he said solemnly. “Sorry for making you fall earlier.”

“No worries.” Makoto chuckled as he shook the tiny hand. “You run really fast for someone so small, Rin-chan.”

“R-Rin-chan?”

Seeing the doll’s outraged expression, Haruka barely suppressed a laugh. He covered his mouth with his bandaged hand.

Rin glanced at him reproachfully, but then turned somber.

“Nanase...”

Haruka flexed his fingers.

“I can still swim; I only need to clean it.”

“But-”

“Weren’t you desperate to go? That’s what this whole chase was about, wasn’t it.”

Rin turned his eyes downwards.

“It’s fine,” he mumbled. “I don’t want to go anymore.”

“Well, I still do.”

“You’re hurt! If you expose it like that, it could get worse!”

“No, the water will heal me. Water is-”

“Rin-chan has a point, Haru,” Makoto interrupted. “We need to treat your hand first.”

“If we don’t go soon, the pool will close.”

“There are waterproof bandages at the natatorium.” Makoto checked his watch. “We’ll have to hurry.”

“So...we’re going?” Rin asked. “Is that really okay?”

Haruka lifted the doll to eye-level.

“If you’re going to complain after everything that’s happened, I really will leave you behind.

Rin pouted, but after a moment, mumbled,

“Let’s go.”

...

“So Rin-chan,” Makoto said, as they walked. “I heard you’re in a dream.”

“...Rin’s fine. And yeah. I’ve confronted witches-”

“Oi.”

“-Hehe I’m kidding, Nanase-been almost bought, chased, and abducted by a cat. All while wearing this-” Rin tugged at the by then ragged skirt of his maid outfit. “-not to mention my body, and Gou being like that.”

“It must be a very weird experience.”

“Yes. I can only imagine what’ll happen next...”

Rin and Makoto talked the rest of the way to the natatorium, and Rin even moved to Makoto’s shoulder so that he would not have to keep leaning over to hear him.

Walking a little way behind them with Gou, Haruka sighed.

_I worried for nothing._

The building’s doors opened just as they approached and a stream of small children poured out.

“Coach Tachibana!” One of them exclaimed, and all of a sudden, Makoto was surrounded.

“Hi everyone,” he greeted good-naturedly.

“Coach, my stroke’s gotten better,” A child said.

“Is that a doll on your shoulder?” Said another.

The children clamoured for a look at Rin.

Makoto hastily handed him to Haruka and nodded towards the doors.

“Sorry guys,” Haruka heard him say as they walked away, “that’s Haru-chan’s doll.”

“Why’d they call him coach?” Rin asked when they were out of earshot.

“He is one,” Haruka replied. “He’s a part-timer here and at a bakery in town, over the summer, to pay for school.”

“Really?! Maybe he can give me some tips!”

The girl at the front desk lent Haruka the first aid kit for his hand, and recognizing him as Makoto’s friend, let him use the staff room. He cleaned the scrape with water, but had difficulty putting on the antiseptic left-handed.

“Give me that,” Rin said, taking the antiseptic-soaked cotton ball and carefully applying it to the scrape.

“You don’t have to do that,” Haruka replied.

“Be quiet. You’re too slow.”

Rin had just finished bandaging Haruka’s hand when Makoto came in.

“Nice work,” he said, looking over the doll’s efforts.

“I’ve had practice. I always do it for Gou in real life.”

Makoto glanced meaningfully at Haruka.

_Real life...huh._

“Rin,” Makoto began, “do you know when you’ll...wake up?”

To their surprise, Rin’s expression became apprehensive.

“Is...everything alright?”

“S-Sorry, I spaced out.” Rin put on a smile. “As for when I wake up, it’s hard to say… Maybe after we swim.”

Haruka’s eyes widened.

“So soon?” Makoto cried.

“Yeah, there’s something I need to take care of...” Rin quickly glanced at Gou. “But I’ll be honest,” he continued. “I’m not quite sure _how_ to wake up.” He reached for his forearm. “Maybe if I pinch-”

“Stop!” Haruka yelled.

Rin and Makoto stared at him with surprise.

“You said you’d wake up _after_ we swim. Not now.”

They continued to stare.

Discomfitted, he glanced away.

“Nanase,” Rin said at last. “It can’t be...”

Haruka reluctantly glanced back.

“What?”

Rin beamed.

“You’ll miss me!”

Haruka abruptly got up to rinse the mysterious woman’s handkerchief, determinedly ignoring Rin’s giggling and Makoto’s entreats to come back.

“About swimming,” Makoto said loudly. “The time’s...”

Haruka quickly looked at the clock.

“Closing?”

“No way!” Rin exclaimed. “We’ve been through too much!”

“Don’t forget your part in that,” Haruka reminded him.

“Or you yours!”

“Guys,” Makoto cut in. “I might have a solution.”

“Right, you work here! Can you get us more time?”

“I think so. I’ll go ask.”

“Hooray!” Rin grabbed Gou and spun her around. Then, he winked at Haruka.

“Since we have the pool to ourselves, do I still have to pretend to be an ordinary doll?”

Haruka rolled his eyes.

_I won’t miss him at all._

...

Makoto managed to get them twenty minutes in the pool under the condition that they clean up after.

“It’s better than nothing,” Haruka directed at Rin’s disappointed expression.

_I’m fine as long as I can swim._

When they finally got to the pool, Haruka hardly registered the transition between the moment he laid eyes on it and the moment he was in the water. Sated and submerged, he was only dimly aware of the others’ voices above.

...

Makoto put Rin and Gou down by the pool’s edge and proceeded to collect the clothes Haruka had thrown off.

“He dropped his shirt in a puddle...” Makoto sighed. “Then again, knowing Haru, he probably won’t mind.”

He glanced at Haruka swimming serenely as always. Rin had not moved from where he had left him.

“Rin?”

Silence.

Makoto went over and crouched beside him.

“N-Nanase’s swimming...”

Makoto smiled.

“It’s beautiful, right?”

Rin nodded.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. He’s-!”

The doll’s eyes shone with a powerful light.

Makoto laughed softly.

_He looks smitten._

“Hey Makoto...why didn’t Nanase go pro?”

Makoto was caught off-guard.

“Because he...never cared about his time,” he managed.

“...”

Rin continued to watch Haruka.

...

Curious as to why he was still the only one in the pool, Haruka glanced over at the pool’s edge. Languidly, he watched as the girl from the front desk called to Makoto from the door.

“Is everything alright?” He asked before following her out.

Haruka’s gaze drifted over to the dolls sitting near the water. He swam over.

“Why aren’t you swimming?”

Rin jumped and turned red.

_Huh?_

“I-I will,” Rin replied, not meeting his eyes. “I just got distracted.”

“By the water?”

Rin gave him a perplexed look and then started to laugh.

“Water? Nanase, you’re amazing.”

“Haha,” Haruka deadpanned. He turned around.

“No wait, I mean it!”

A particular note in Rin’s voice made him turn back. The doll stared at him earnestly.

“I’ve never seen anyone swim like you before. You’re so fast, so beau-You’re amazing!”

Not sure of what to say, Haruka looked away.

_Splash!_

Where Rin had been, only a discarded maid outfit remained. Haruka looked down.

Rin floated belly up, his face scrunched up with annoyance.

Haruka smiled. “You still need to get the hang of that body,” he said, flipping Rin over.

“I’m getting tired of it. I want to be big again so I can race you.”

“I’d still be bigger, you know.”

“Hey, don’t underestimate me.”

All of a sudden, the pool doors banged open and Makoto ran in.

“Guys, we have to go!”

There was still eight minutes left on the clock, but Makoto informed them that the supervisor had called in to announce an unexpected visit so they had to run.

Hastily gathering the dolls and discarded clothes, they hurried out.

“It was nice to meet you,” Makoto told Rin when it was time for them to part.

“You too! Let’s hang out another time.”

Makoto met Haruka’s eye.

_Will there be another time?_

“Rin, now that you’ve swum...are you going to wake up?”

The doll’s smile fell. 

“Maybe a little later...” He glanced at Haruka.

Makoto chuckled.

“Haru’s pretty cool, right?”

Haruka raised an eyebrow while Rin reddened. Makoto winked and said goodbye.

“What’re we going to do now?” Rin asked eventually.

They were nearly at the store and all Haruka could think of was sleep.

“Are you an old man?!” Rin exclaimed when he said as much. “Let’s play a game!”

“Running after you took too much energy,” Haruka replied. “Plus, I hardly slept last night. You’re only energetic because you barely swam, _and_ because you’re a little kid.”

“I’m not little, I’m eleven! And like I told you, I...got distracted.”

 _Why does he keep reddening_ , Haruka wondered. _Is he sick?_

When they finally got home, Haruka went straight to his room and fell onto his bed.

“...Alright,” Rin conceded, peering at him from the pillow where he had put him and Gou. “I’ll let you rest. I’m going to explore.”

Haruka turned his head to watch him climb off the bed and head towards the door, alone.

“Don’t run away again.”

Rin grinned.

“I won’t.”

 _Rin said he’d stay longer_ , Haruka thought. _But when I wake up tomorrow, will he be gone?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading all the way here :) We'll be reaching the end soon, it appears. The cat was an effort to include Kisumi :p  
> 


	7. Chapter 7

For the second consecutive morning, Haruka found himself at the store counter, recording the previous day’s deposits.

“This has to stop,” he muttered in annoyance.

Luckily, the store was closed on Sunday so there was no need to hurry to open on time. Not that it ever got too busy. Aside from a handful of dedicated customers like Nitori, the store was usually rather quiet, with special orders like Matsuoka-san’s occasionally.

Haruka’s pencil paused. His thoughts turned to Matsuoka-san’s imminent arrival the next day to pick up the dolls. The day before had been too hectic to dwell on it, but now time was running out.

_How am I going to explain Rin?_

Distracted, he began doodling in the ledger’s margin while he pondered what to do.

_Rin said he wasn’t sure how to wake up, but he seemed confident that he could do it._

Haruka drew Rin’s tuxedo jacket from the reference photo.

_He meant to after we swam, but then he changed his mind. He’d seemed in a hurry before too. I wonder why._

He drew the trousers next.

_If he’s still around tomorrow, how will Matsuoka-san take it?_

He began on Gou’s dress.

_I can hide him and tell her I need more time. In the meantime, I can give her Gou-_

One of the frills came out wrong. He hastily erased it.

_No... Rin wouldn’t stand that. That isn’t an option._

Haruka set the ledger aside, leant back in his chair, and stared at the ceiling.

_I can always make her new dolls. I have all the materials and I’m familiar with the designs._

He glanced at Gou sitting on the counter, smiling pleasantly.

_I can’t say I mind having her around. And as for Rin-_

The previous day’s chaoticness was still fresh in Haruka’s mind, but so was the memory of Rin treating his hand, Rin beaming at him from the pool’s edge, and the tightness in his chest when he watched Rin go off to explore by himself.

_I...won’t mind too much if he wants to hang around longer._

A knock on his foot startled Haruka out of his thoughts. He looked down and found Rin looking up.

“Yo, Nanase.”

The doll looked like he had been in some kind of battle. The maid outfit was torn in several places and he was covered in dust.

“You look awful,” Haruka said, lifting him up. “What have you been doing?”

“I’ve been having adventures! Your place is a wild and dangerous terrain!”

Haruka raised an eyebrow. Other than the doll store, his home was rather plain. Then again, at his size, Rin probably saw everything differently.

He brought Rin to eye-level and tut-tutted at the state of the maid outfit.

_Matsuoka-san’s not the only one I may need to ask for an extension..._

“It’s about time I make your real clothes. We’re going out to get the fabric.”

“Yes! I want a leather jacket! A red one, okay?”

Haruka put Rin on the counter and turned back to the neglected ledger. He pointed to the clothes he had drawn.

“Here’s what I’d intended you to wear.”

Rin came over to look.

“T-That’s the tux I wore to the wedding! And that’s Gou’s dress! H-How-” Rin pressed a palm to his forehead. “ _Man_ , this dream's strange.”

He looked back at the designs.

“Nanase...”

“Hm?”

“About that leather jacket-”

Haruka sighed and returned to recording the deposits.

“-It’s not like I wanted to wear the tux. I didn’t even pick it out! It looks stupid and-"

“I think it suits you very well.”

“...”

Rin’s immediate silence made Haruka glance at him. The doll had turned away so he could not see his face.

“You...really think so?”

“Yes.”

Rin turned back, face red for some reason.

“When are we going?” He demanded.

Haruka put the ledger away and stretched.

“After breakfast.” He picked up Gou and held out a hand to Rin. “Come on.”

“Wait! Before that, I want you to see something.”

Rin climbed onto his hand and Haruka put him on his shoulder. The doll directed him towards his living room, to a corner he rarely went to.

Rin leapt onto the showcase there and made a sweeping gesture with his arm.

“Are all these swimming awards yours?”

The rows of medals and trophies glimmered in the morning light. Nearly all of them were first place.

“...So what if they are.” Haruka bent down to pick the sheet he usually kept them covered with off the floor. Rin must have dropped it.

The doll gave him a strange look.

“Aren’t you proud of them?”

Haruka focused on folding the sheet.

“I didn’t swim to win,” he said eventually.

“Makoto told me something like that yesterday...but there’s more to competitive swimming than winning, Nanase.” Rin faced one of the trophies. “I wish I could show you what I mean...”

The trophy was dusty but his image and Haruka’s were reflected on it clearly.

Their reflections’ eyes met and Rin’s smiled.

“Hey, have you ever swam in a relay?”

“I only swim free.”

“Well, the fourth leg of a medley relay is-”

“I _only_ swim free.”

Rin frowned.

“You’re kind of weird, you know that?”

Haruka rolled his eyes.

“But-” Rin faced him with his arms crossed behind his head. “I’d still want you to be on _my_ relay time.”

Haruka saw his own perplexed expression reflected on the trophy.

" _You’re_ the weird one," he said.

The confounding doll grinned.

Haruka turned on his heel and went to the kitchen.

“W-Wait!” Rin cried and scrambled after him.

Haruka prepared mackerel for himself and gave Rin the remaining meat pastries. The doll accepted them but kept stealing glances at his plate. He cut off a piece of mackerel and offered it to him.

“Thanks!”

“Didn’t you say you preferred meat?”

“Yes, but it’s good to vary your diet.”

Rin glanced back, pointedly, at Haruka’s plate.

 _What a troublesome guy_ , Haruka thought with a sigh. He leant on his hand and watched him.

Feeling his stare, the doll glanced up from gnawing on a pastry.

“Rin...when will you wake up?”

The doll stilled.

“Do you want to get rid of me?”

“That’s not it.”

_I need to know how much longer we can go on like this._

“You’d mentioned that you needed to take care of something.”

Rin’s eyes widened and he glanced at Gou.

“I-I do...” He stared at his lap, brow furrowed. “But I can wait a little longer.”

_Is he avoiding something?_

“This place we’re going to-” Rin changed the subject. “Do you know the people there well?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Will I be able to talk with them?”

Haruka paused.

While he did not worry about scaring Nagisa and Rei, he had other misgivings about introducing them to Rin.

“Nagisa’s really excitable,” he began. “And Rei...”

He trailed off. How someone as logical as Rei would react to a doll coming to life was beyond him.

“I see,” Rin said, reaching his own conclusions from Haruka's silence. “I’ll keep quiet.”

Relieved to have secured Rin's cooperation, it was not long after that Haruka and the dolls set off.

On their way, they passed by the bakery where Makoto worked, and spotted him at the counter, serving a long line of customers. They waved at him through the glass and Makoto's eyes widened. He gestured excitedly for them to come in. 

“We shouldn't bother him,” Haruka said, and shook his head.

They did not see the tawny cat with violet eyes lurking in front of the bakery, nor, as they continued along their way, did they notice it follow them.

“Here we are,” Haruka said, stopping in front of Nagisa and Rei’s store. He shared a nod with Rin and put him in his bag with Gou.

The tinkling of the doorbell marked his entrance, but before he could announce it himself, someone glomped him.

“Oof!”

“Haru-chan! I can’t believe something so amazing happened and you waited this long to tell me!”

Nagisa lifted his face off Haruka’s chest. He was beaming.

“I’m not stubborn like Rei-chan,” he continued. “I believe it!”

“B-Believe what?”

Nagisa’s eyes shone.

“That one of your dolls came to life!” He exclaimed. “I can’t wait to meet Rin-chan!”

Haruka’s jaw dropped.

“H-How-”

“Hehe. Mako-chan let it slip by accident, but it’s OK, I'm good at keeping secrets!”

Haruka groaned.

_Is this what Makoto wanted to tell us?_

“...Alright.” He sighed. “You can meet him.”

“YES!”

“Rin, prepare yourself.” 

Haruka opened the bag.

“Hello,” Rin greeted tersely, moving Gou protectively behind him.

Nagisa yelped and began bouncing up and down.

“OH MY GOD! Rei-chan, come here! REI-CHAN!”

“What on earth-!” Rei emerged from the back, frowning.

“Rei-chan, look! Haru-chan’s doll’s alive!”

"H-Huh?!"

Nagisa indicated Rin peering out the bag.

Rei came forward and stared. The doll stared back.

“H-Hi,” Rin said after a moment, and began to hold out his hand-

_Crash._

-but before he could reach out, Rei fainted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this while sick, so sorry if there are errors! Thanks for reading! The end is nearing.


	8. Chapter 8

“Now’s not the time to sleep, Rei-chan!”

Haruka picked up Rei’s fallen glasses, while Nagisa dashed to the room at the back. He returned a moment later with a bucket of water which he emptied over Rei’s face.

“Gwah!”

They watched Rei start to sit up before knocking his head against the bucket and laying down again.

“REI-CHAN!”

Another bucket later-this time held at a safer distance-Rei was awake, albeit dazed and rubbing his head.

His eyes focused on Rin and he smiled.

“Ah, I understand. This is a dream, isn’t it?”

“He realized so fast!” Rin exclaimed.

Haruka face-palmed.

“I told you it was true,” Nagisa chided. “Mako-chan wouldn’t lie, and besides, Haru-chan’s granny said it could happen!”

Slowly returning to his senses, Rei crawled over to Rin and stared. He reached up to adjust his glasses, forgetting that they were not there.

“Wha-”

“Pfft.” Rin hid a laugh behind his hand.

Rei paled and for a moment, Haruka thought he might faint again, but his brow just furrowed.

“You there,” Rei said sternly to Rin. “State your full name and age, please.”

Rin glanced quizzically at Haruka and then straightened.

“Matsuoka Rin. Eleven.”

“No hesitation,” Rei muttered. “Interesting.” He cleared his throat. “Well, Matsuoka-kun, how did you come to be?”

“I woke up in this form after falling asleep at a wedding.”

Rei nodded.

“And whose wedding might that be?”

“Uh...” Rin scratched his head. “A friend of my mom’s, I think?”

“Mhm. The subject seems to have vague memories.”

““The _subject_?” Hey, I had other things on my mind, so-”

“Did anything notable happen before you fell asleep?”

Rin narrowed his eyes.

“Oi. What’s with all these questions?”

Rei crossed his arms.

“Einstein said “The important thing is to not stop questioning.” By doing so, I may be able to figure out how something as inconceivable as yourself exists.”

Rin stomped his feet.

“Hey! I’m not “the subject” or “something”!”

“Hot-tempered, I see. I wonder if that means anything... Ah! Could this perhaps be a mass hallucination caused by the recent heat? Temperatures _have_ been higher than av-”

“Rei-chan,” Nagisa cut in. “All these questions, but not the most pressing one!”

“Eh?”

Grinning, Nagisa leaned towards Rin who stepped back in surprise.

“Why are you wearing a maid outfit, Rin-chan?” Nagisa poked the tattered, yet still bouncy skirt.

“A-Ask Nanase!” Rin cried. Flustered, he retreated to a corner of the bag, pulling Gou along with him.

“Haru-chan?” Nagisa looked to Haruka.

“It was all I had on hand,” he replied. “We’re here to get fabric for new clothes.”

Haruka crouched down and peered into the bag.

“Rin?”

Pouting, the doll emerged, and piggybacking his sister, he climbed onto Haruka’s hand.

“Too cute!” Nagisa gushed, poking Rin’s cheek.

“H-Hey!”

“Hm. He’s corporeal, huh... Or does he only _seem_ that way?” Rei glanced around as if searching for something.

“Here, Rei.” Haruka held out his glasses.

“Haru-chan...” Nagisa touched his wrist. “What happened to your hand?”

It was still bandaged.

“I fell yesterday.” Haruka noticed Rin, on his other hand, lower his eyes. “It’s nothing.”

“But Haru-chan, you can’t make doll clothes like this!”

“I’m fine. Besides, they need to be done by tonight, so I can’t wait.”

Haruka gently removed Nagisa’s hand and reached back into the bag for the reference photo of Rin and Gou.

“I need to replicate these clothes.”

The other three looked. Rin’s brow furrowed.

“White silk for him and sea-green tulle and taffeta for her,” Rei remarked.

“Yes, that sounds right.”

Haruka began to get to his feet, when Nagisa suddenly clung to his leg.

“I’m not selling you anything while your hand’s hurt!” He cried.

“N-Nagisa!”

Haruka looked to Rei for help, but his expression was set too.

“He’s right, Haruka-senpai. You mustn’t exert yourself.”

“But, the deadline-”

“You’ll still meet it.” Nagisa grinned up at Haruka. “With our help that is.”

"Huh?"

“We’ll make the doll clothes for you! Right, Rei-chan?”

“Indeed.” Rei adjusted his glasses. “I would like more time to analyze Matsuoka-kun, anyways.”

“So it’s settled!” Nagisa declared.

He led Haruka to an armchair in the staff room while Rei collected the necessary fabrics.

“Nagisa. Are you sure about this?”

“Yup! Take it easy, Haru-chan.”

“They’re really weird,” Rin said after Nagisa left to help Rei, “but not bad guys.”

Haruka smiled.

“Nanase?”

“Hm?”

“That photo from earlier...could I see it again?”

Haruka put the dolls on a nearby coffee table and retrieved the photo.

Rin frowned down at it.

“This is from the wedding isn’t it? But how can that be...”

“What’s wrong?”

Rin gave Haruka a strange look.

“I’ve never had a photo like this taken before.”

_What?_

“This...is some sort of dream thing, isn’t it... Gou’s even smiling...”

“Rin-”

“Here’s the fabric!” Nagisa announced, returning with Rei.

They carried several rolls of fabric to a work table, and then Nagisa came over to Haruka and Rin.

“We’ll need the reference photo-”

Haruka reluctantly handed it over.

“-and Rin-chan and Gou-chan!”

“What?” Rin backed away. “Why?”

Nagisa put his hands on his hips.

“To take your measurements of course! And you’ve got to try things on too.”

“But-”

Nagisa lifted the dolls.

“I’m not letting this chance to play with you pass me by hehe.”

“...!”

While Haruka watched the proceedings, he pondered what Rin had said.

_He didn’t recognize the photo...but isn’t that where he’s from?_

Haruka recalled Rin and Gou’s bright smiles in it. He recalled too the reluctance Rin had shown recently about going back. And he wondered about that other Rin, the boy who had not become a doll, but was swimming in Australia right then.

_How does it all connect?_

At the work table, Rin had removed the maid outfit and was having his height taken by Nagisa.

“Lift your head a little, Rin-chan.”

Rin begrudgingly did and his eyes met Haruka’s. He turned red and looked away.

“R-Rin-chan!”

Haruka sighed.

_In the end, does it matter? He’ll be gone soon, anyways..._

The doll clothes making went into the late afternoon, mostly due to Rei trying his darndest to figure out how Rin ticked, and Nagisa creating all sorts of other things for him to try on.

[“Nagisa-kun, shouldn’t we be focusing on the task at hand?”

“But Rei-chan, this shark costume really suits him, right?”]

Not that Haruka could complain. Still, it was boring sitting around with nothing to do. He decided to visit Makoto at the bakery.

“ _Iwato-bikkuri-pan_ , please, Haru-chan!”

“ _Melonpan_ for me, if it’s not a bother, Haruka-senpai.”

“M-Meat pastries, Nanase!”

When Haruka opened the store door to go, a cat tried to slip in through his legs.

“H-Hey.” He picked it up and quickly shut the door behind him.

The tawny cat meowed.

“Wait. Aren’t you-”

The cat wriggled out of Haruka’s arms and ran off.

_What a strange cat..._

When he got to the bakery, the long line from before was gone, and Makoto was outside sweeping. His eyes widened when he saw Haruka.

“H-Haru! You’ve...seen Nagisa and Rei, haven’t you...”

Haruka held up his bandaged hand.

“They’re making the dolls’ clothes for me.”

“I’m sorry for telling. Rin was on my mind and I-”

“It’s alright. I never told you not to.”

Makoto leaned his broom against one of the patio tables in front of the bakery and pulled out a chair. Haruka followed.

“Are they taking it well?”

“Nagisa, in stride. Rei, though, seems to be in denial...”

“Ah, well, I can’t really blame him. Rin coming to life is pretty incredible... How is he, by the way?”

“Still a weirdo. Earlier, he said he wanted me on his relay team.”

“And you said-” Makoto put on a cool face. ““I only swim free.””

While he laughed, Haruka frowned.

“The fourth leg of a medley relay _is_ free.”

“Oh? You’re considering it?”

“Wha-no, I mean-” Haruka looked away. “T-That’s impossible.”

Makoto smiled.

“He must have been really convincing.”

“He-Oh!” Something brushed against Haruka’s leg. He looked under the table and met a pair of gleaming violet eyes.

“Meow.”

“You again...”

“He’s been coming by a lot today,” Makoto said, lifting the cat up.

It rubbed its head against his cheek.

“I think he likes me.”

Haruka and the cat stared off.

“I caught him trying to sneak into Nagisa and Rei’s store earlier, probably to steal Rin again. Don’t tell me he meant to give him to you as a present...”

As if feigning innocence, the cat began to purr.

“And actually, Rin _has_ been acting weirder than usual. He turns red a lot, especially when I look at him. Could this stray have given him some sort of illness?”

“Uh I don’t think that’s it.”

“Huh?”

Makoto chuckled.

“Nevermind.”

“Hey-”

“Makoto!” A voice called from the bakery door.

They turned to see Sasabe.

“Am I paying you to slack off?”

“Sorry, Sasabe-san!” Makoto lowered the cat to the ground and stood.

“Meow!”

“I’ll see you later, okay, Haru?”

“Hold on, there are some things I need to buy.”

Nagisa and Rei’s requests were in, but the bakery was all out of meat pastries.

“After yesterday’s overflow, we only made a few,” Makoto explained apologetically.

Haruka settled with getting Rin the same thing as Nagisa.

When he left the bakery, he found an elderly man had set up a _takoyaki_ stand across the road. The cat had gone over to investigate it and the scent drew Haruka too, but his hands were full. Reluctantly, he pulled himself away.

_Maybe I’ll take Rin later..._

The sun was low in the sky when he returned to the store. He checked to see if the cat had followed him, but he did not see it. He opened the door.

“I’m back,” he announced.

Nagisa ducked out of the staff room.

“Thanks, Haru-chan!” He took the bag of baked goods. “Come here, we’ve got something to show you.”

Rei stood in front of the work table. When Haruka entered, he bowed theatrically-

“Behold, Haruka-senpai!”

-and with a flourish, moved aside.

Rin and Gou stood on the table, decked out in the white tux and poofy sea-green dress from the reference photo.

“Don’t they look great?” Nagisa asked excitedly.

Haruka went to the table and bent for a closer look. Rin would not meet his eyes.

“Entirely waterproof, of course,” Rei stated. “In fact, I utilized a special coating I've developed that will dry instantaneously in seconds.”

“Thank you, Rei. Nagisa.”

Haruka touched Rin’s shoulder and he slowly turned around.

“You look really cool, Rin,” Haruka said with a smile.

All of a sudden, the doll’s face and hair became the same colour.

“Hehe. What’ve we got here now?”

Haruka turned to see Nagisa digging through the bag.

“ _Melonpan_ for Rei-chan and-Ah! Two _Iwato-bikkuri-pans_ for me! Haru-chan, you shouldn’t have!”

“Actually, that’s for Rin.” Haruka turned back to the doll. “Sorry, they were all out of meat pastries.”

The look Rin gave the _Iwato-bikkuri-pan_ was unexpectedly queasy.

“That looks like it has a lot of sugar...”

“Don’t little kids like sweets?”

“I told you, I’m not a little kid! And if I’m going to be an Olympic swimmer, I need to stay fit!”

“But Rin-chan,” Nagisa said, puzzled, “aren’t you made of wood?”

Rin opened his mouth to speak, but then, he closed it.

“Don’t forget even that may be a hallucination,” Rei added.

“If you don’t like it,” Haruka said, “there’s a _takoyaki_ stand nearby that we can go to instead.”

Rin’s expression brightened.

"Really?!" Nagisa exclaimed. "Let’s go, Haru-ch-"

“Nagisa-kun!” Rei pulled Nagisa to one side and whispered something into his ear.

“Eh? But I want _tak_ -”

More whispering followed and Nagisa resignedly sighed.

“Alright, you two can go on your date. But Haru-chan, you have to take _me_ next time, okay?”

“D-Date?!” Haruka and Rin stammered in unison.

“Now then, it’s getting dark so you’d better get going.” Nagisa gave the dolls to Haruka and ushered him to the front.

“Wait, what about the payment?”

“It’s free, no worries! Getting to meet Rin-chan was payment enough!”

They reached the door before Haruka could protest.

“I’ll alert you if I learn anything new about the mass hallucination,” Rei assured, handing him his bag.

“T-Thanks...”

“Bye-bye, Rin-chan,” Nagisa said. “Don’t get that tux dirty and visit us again, okay?”

“Uh yeah.”

Nagisa and Rei waved briefly at the door and then went back inside.

“I...don’t think Nagisa wanted to dwell on us going for _takoyaki_ without him,” Haruka said eventually.

“Funny guy. Hey...he kept that extra pastry!”

Haruka laughed.

“It’s alright.”

He bought two skewers from the elderly man at the _takoyaki_ stand and then sat with Rin on the curb. The street was quiet and the owner of the stand was not paying them any attention, so he relaxed about hiding Rin from view. It did not take him long to eat, and while he waited for Rin to be done, he leant back on his hands and watched the moon trade places with the sun.

“Nanase.”

Haruka glanced at Rin. The doll held up his skewer with two _takoyaki_ balls still on it.

“Want the rest?”

“You don’t like it?”

“I do. It’s just, I’m used to always sharing it with Gou, but...”

Haruka glanced at the other doll by Rin’s side. The moonlight illuminated her blank expression.

“You sound like a good brother,” he said, accepting it.

Suddenly, Rin stilled.

“I don’t know...” he said in a small voice.

“...Rin?” Haruka put the skewer down. “Is...something wrong?”

A long moment passed before Rin replied.

“Nanase...at the wedding, I had a fight with Gou. It happened a little before I fell asleep.”

Haruka’s eyes widened in surprise. He recalled Rin’s reluctance to answer Rei’s question earlier.

“She kept asking me to take her with me to Australia, and wouldn’t listen when I told her I couldn’t. The guests at the party, friends of my mom...and dad, asked me a lot of questions about my decision to go too, and i-it became really overwhelming.” Rin sniffed. “I ended up yelling at Gou and she cried.”

He ran a knuckle over his eyes.

“Mom got angry and sent me to another table. I...cried too and eventually fell asleep. The next thing I knew, I was here. I-I would take her with me if I could! I know she’ll be lonely when I’m gone and I’ll miss her a lot too...but I can’t.”

Teary-eyed, Rin looked at Haruka.

“Nanase, what you told me the other day, about how she’ll be okay without me, I think you’re right.”

Rin reached for Gou’s hand and squeezed it.

“I want to see her smile again,” he continued. “Not her doll smile, or her smile in that photo, but her real smile. I need to go back and apologize.”

Haruka gently patted him on the head.

“Are you nervous about facing her? Is that why you haven’t gone back?”

Rin bowed his head.

“You can stay with me for as long as you need to,” Haruka said. “Until you’re ready.”

Rin lifted his head, eyes wide. Little by little, his expression softened and he smiled.

“Thank you...Haru.”

Haruka smiled back.

“T-That’s not all though,” Rin admitted. “There’s one other reason I haven’t wanted to go back.”

“What’s that?”

Rin got to his feet in a patch of moonlight.

“You,” he said earnestly. “I mean...when I wake up, won’t it be goodbye?”

“...”

Haruka’s smile fell and he lowered his eyes.

“Haru.” Rin reached up.

Haruka reached for him too-

“Haru, I...”

-but before they could touch, without warning, the tawny cat with violet eyes leapt between them and collected Rin in its jaws. It paused long enough for Haruka to see the shock in Rin's eyes and then ran off.

“R-Rin!”

Haruka tried to stand but his feet got tangled in the straps of his bag and he fell. He looked up to see the cat run to the bakery across the road.

"Rin!"

The cat glanced back at him in front of it and missed the moped backing out.

“NO!”

Screeching, the cat got away in time, but something fell from its mouth.

_Crunch._

The moped braked and the rider came around.

“W-What the...” Sasabe sputtered, bewildered at what he found. “Isn’t this...?”

He bent to examine it, swore, and hurried back into the bakery.

A moment later, Makoto ran out. He looked behind the moped, gasped, and gathered the thing on the ground in his hands.

The cat crept back and mewed mournfully by his side.

Numb, Haruka got to his feet, put Gou in his pocket, and went over to Makoto.

“Haru!” Makoto was pale. “Haru, Rin's-”

A tiny hand waved weakly at Haruka. Rin greeted him with a small smile.

Haruka fell to his knees and grasped the doll’s hand.

“You’re...okay,” he managed. “But that sound...”

“Haru.”

Haruka glanced at Makoto and saw something in his eyes. He looked back at Rin and noticed that his other hand was pressed tightly against his chest.

“R-Rin?”

“Haru,” Rin said. “I’m sorry...but the tux...”

“What?”

With effort, Rin jerkily lifted the hand, pieces of wood scattering from his sleeve, and the left side of the tux fell open.

Haruka’s eyes widened in horror at the damage, not of the torn tux, but of Rin’s shattered chest.

“Rin...does it hurt?”

The doll shook his head.

“Not...at all.”

“W-Why are you talking like that?”

“I’m just...a little out of breath,” Rin answered with a laugh. “Are you...worried about me, Haru? That’s sweet.”

 _He’s back to himself again_. Haruka breathed a sigh of relief.

“Idiot. Of course I am.”

“I’m going to let Sasabe-san know you’re here,” Makoto told Haruka, and carefully put Rin in his hands. With a pat on the doll’s head, he went into the bakery.

Rin touched Haruka’s bandaged hand.

“I’ve given you guys a lot of trouble over the last few days, haven’t I? Sorry about that.”

“Rin.” Haruka smoothed the doll’s hair. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“Haru, it won’t be goodbye, will it? When I wake up? We’ll meet again, right?”

 _Yes_. The word emerged in Haruka’s mind with certainty that they would.

“Of course,” he firmly replied.

Rin smiled, cheerily, like in the reference photo.

The bakery door opened and he froze.

“Haruka,” Sasabe said, coming out with Makoto. “I feel terrible about your doll. That cat came out of nowhere and I just managed to avoid it, but...” He bent over Rin. “Poor little guy’s really busted up, huh? Will you be able to fix him?”

“I will,” Haruka answered. He looked down at Rin. “He’ll be fine.”

“That’s good to hear. If you need me to pay for anything, just let me know. Well then, I’m going to get going. Makoto, can you finish closing?”

“Yes, sir.”

They waited until he was out of sight, before turning back to Rin.

“Isn’t that great, Rin,” Makoto said. “Haru will fix you right up.”

Rin smiled blankly.

“A-And that tear in the tux too.”

Rin was silent.

Makoto shot Haruka a nervous look.

“Rin,” Haruka said.

There was no reply.

“Rin?” He shook him lightly.

Nothing.

“Hey, quit joking around... Hey, Rin!”

“Haru!” Makoto took Haruka’s wrist, preventing him from shaking the doll further.

But all of a sudden, Haruka could not hear him. He could not see him. Only Rin’s empty eyes and his frozen smile, like an ordinary doll’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NGL, it hurt to write that ;_; One chapter left! Thanks for reading and commenting, and Happy New Year!


	9. Chapter 9

Sunlight shone through the workshop window and alighted on Haruka’s sleeping face. He scrunched up his eyes to keep the light out, but it was too late. He was awake and the dream he had been having was over.

Reluctantly, he opened his eyes, and they fell on the two dolls sitting on the table before him. A boy in a white tux and a girl in a sea-green dress. The sunlight made halos of their red hair.

Haruka reached over and lightly touched the boy doll’s face. It did not react, only smiled cheerily, as expected of an ordinary doll.

He let his hand fall.

_Rin... Was it just a dream after all?_

He lowered his eyes and they came to rest on his bandaged hand.

_But there’s this..._

He made a fist and felt a dull pain.

_My hand will eventually heal, and since it’s Monday, Matsuoka-san will be here soon for the dolls. Then everything will go back to normal..._

Haruka reached for Rin again and touched the place where his heart would be, the area that had been shattered the night before.

...

After Rin’s accident and his return to being an ordinary doll, Makoto had taken Haruka home. When they got there, he went directly to the workshop and began gathering all the necessary materials and tools needed to repair the doll. Makoto had protested, referring to Haruka’s hurt hand, but he shook him off.

“Haru, this isn’t going to bring him back, you know...”

Haruka’s hand around Rin began to shake. Makoto gently touched his arm, steadying him.

“Haru...after all the time I spent here when were little, watching you and your grandmother work, I think I can be of some help to you.”

For a long moment, Haruka said nothing. Finally, he nodded, and together they worked late into the night, in their efforts to fix the broken doll.

...

The area under Haruka’s touch was solid and smooth, as if it had never been broken in the first place, and the same could be said of the tux. The tear was gone and it appeared unblemished.

Looking at Rin, he felt like he had gone back in time, to before the accident, to the moment in Nagisa and Rei’s store when they had shown him the dolls in their new clothes.

 _“You look really cool, Rin.”_ He had said at the time, and Rin had blushed.

“You look really cool, Rin,” he repeated softly.

The doll smiled blankly back.

_I knew it wasn’t going to last, and now...it’s over._

Haruka smoothed Rin’s hair and slowly sat up. As he did, a blanket fell off his shoulders. He caught it before it hit the ground.

 _Makoto_ , he thought. _Is he still around?_

Haruka put the blanket on his chair and went to the door.

“Makoto?” He called, holding it open.

There was no reply.

_Maybe he’s upstairs._

He started to step out, but then stopped. He glanced back at the dolls on the table.

_It doesn’t matter anymore...they’re just ordinary dolls._

Nevertheless, Haruka returned to the table and picked them up. With Gou in his left, he looked at Rin in his right.

“Being troublesome even when you’re like this...”

He put Rin on his shoulder, and a small smile rose to his lips.

Together, he and the dolls left the workshop.

“Makoto?” Haruka called again when they reached his living area.

Makoto did not answer.

He went into the kitchen, but Makoto was not there either. He did, however, find a note next to a covered plate.

 _“Eat this to get your strength back, Haru!_ \- Makoto” The note read.

Curious, he took the cover off and found grilled salt mackerel beneath.

“You didn’t have to,” Haruka sighed. Still, it was a pleasant surprise.

He moved it to the living room where he set it on the table. He put the dolls down too and started to carve a portion for Rin, when he realized what he was doing.

_Right..._

He collected himself, and took a bite.

“Too salty...” Haruka glanced at Rin. “It would’ve been convenient if we could’ve shared.”

_Have I gone mad? What am I saying?_

“It’s strange that you could eat in the first place,” he muttered. “This whole weekend has been so strange. I should be thankful it’s quieted down.”

But it was too quiet, far too quiet, and for the first time in a while, he noticed how lonely it was to eat alone.

There had not been much time to think about it, not at the pace at which they had been going, but now, in the stifling silence, he realized how caught up he had gotten in Rin’s antics.

Haruka looked at the showcase in the corner, another piece of proof that Rin had been there, because it was uncovered. He recalled the words the doll had said when they were in front of it yesterday.

_“There’s more to competitive swimming than winning, Nanase. I wish I could show you what I mean...”_

_Rin... what did you want to show me?_

He glanced back at the doll.

“If you were dreaming, and you’ve woken up, you’re probably swimming right now...in Australia, aiming for the Olympics...you must be working hard.”

He lowered his eyes.

“I wonder what it would be like to swim in that world too…”

The thought came unexpectedly and Haruka rubbed his temples.

_Hadn’t I given thoughts like this up?_

He turned to the doll and frowned.

“This is all your fault.”

Rin just smiled, and Haruka sighed.

It was then that he heard knocking coming from below. He glanced at the clock on the wall and realized it was well past time to open the store.

He collected the dolls and hurried into the hall.

The knocking grew louder and more impatient.

“Coming,” Haruka called, frowning. _Who could it be?_

He had almost reached the bottom of the stairs, when a thought occurred to him, and he came to a halt, gripping the railing.

_Is it Matsuoka-san?_

The knocking persisted.

Slowly, he removed Rin from his shoulder and looked down at him.

“Rin...” he began, but could not continue because of the knot in his throat.

_It’s time to say goodbye..._

Haruka brushed the doll’s cheek with his thumb, and then went down.

He put Gou on the counter beside the handkerchief the mysterious woman from the other day had lent him, and headed to the door.

Before he opened it though, he glanced at Rin, still on his shoulder. Perhaps it was the light, but the doll’s smile did not seem so empty anymore. His grip around the knob tightened and he turned it.

The person on his step was not Matsuoka-san after all. Haruka’s eyes widened.

“Yamazaki?”

“Nanase,” Sousuke said through gritted teeth. “It says here-” He inclined his head toward the sign with the store’s hours hanging off the door. “-that you open at nine, but it’s already fifteen minutes past that...”

“Why are you here?” Haruka demanded, paying no mind to Sousuke’s bad mood.

“I’m wondering the same thing.” Sousuke edged past him into the store. “I was expecting to be in and out of here by now. Tch. I even came early.”

“I said, why are you-”

Sousuke held out a folded paper.

“Read this.”

Frowning, Haruka did. He furrowed his brow in confusion.

“This invoice...why do you have it?”

“I’m here to pick up this order on behalf of the person who placed it,” Sousuke answered.

“But...how do you know Matsuoka-san?”

Sousuke glared.

“Is that really any of your business?”

Haruka crossed his arms and glared back.

“It is. How else am I supposed to know you didn’t just find this lying around somewhere.”

“H-Hey, what kind of guy do you think I am?”

Haruka was just about to answer, when all of a sudden, Sousuke inhaled sharply.

“Is that...Gou?”

Haruka froze.

Sousuke went to the counter and bent before the doll. He laughed.

“Wow. It’s really Gou!”

“H-How do you know that name?”

When Sousuke, too busy examining Gou, ignored Haruka, he followed him to the counter and blocked his view of her. In the process, he accidentally swept the handkerchief off and it landed at Sousuke’s feet.

“Yamazaki, I need answers!”

“The same goes for me,” Sousuke said unexpectedly, and picked the handkerchief up. “Why is this with you?”

“What’s it to you?” Haruka snapped, and snatched it back.

“What’s it to me? It’s mine!”

_Huh?_

“W-What are you talking about it? A woman lent this to me...”

Haruka trailed off.

 _“Ask for me at The Whale Shark.”_ The woman had said. _The Whale Shark is the name of Sousuke’s bar..._

While Haruka made that realization, something seemed to dawn on Sousuke too, and he abruptly paled.

“D-Don’t tell me...she met you?”

“Yamazaki-”

Sousuke grabbed Haruka by the shoulders.

“Nanase, the woman who lent this handkerchief to you, did she see the dolls?”

“Y-Yes.” Haruka shook him off. “What’s the matter with you?”

Sousuke groaned.

“Then Gou’s surprise is ruined!”

_What?_

“Hey-” Haruka began, but Sousuke raised his hand.

“You want answers, right? I’ll tell you.”

Oddly red-faced, Sousuke scratched his head.

“The person I’m here on behalf of,” he confessed. “Is my fiancee’s mother.”

Haruka’s eyes widened.

“They’re from out of town, so she asked me to pick the dolls, her engagement present, up for her.”

“Y-You’re engaged?”

“I told you, didn’t I? On Friday, when you and Makoto came to the bar.”

Haruka recalled the thing Sousuke had told Makoto then, the reason for the celebration at the bar that day, that he had missed because he had been distracted by the aquarium.

“T-That doesn’t make any sense...”

Sousuke looked insulted.

“Oi, what are you trying to say? You think I’d make it up?”

“No, I...” Haruka’s head felt blank. “Y-You can’t be engaged to Matsuoka-san’s daughter. Gou’s just a kid.”

“You’re really pissing me off, Nanase...” Sousuke pointed to the handkerchief. “Did the woman who lent this to you look like a kid?”

_That woman was Gou?_

“But...Matsuoka-san said the dolls are meant to cheer her daughter up while her brother’s away.”

Sousuke paused.

“Did she...”

 _Gou’s...an adult?_ Haruka took Rin off his shoulder. _Does that mean..._

“Hey, that doll...” A smile spread across Sousuke’s face. “Rin?”

“Y-You know him?”

“I _am_ engaged to his sister,” Sousuke replied. “But he’s also my best friend. Is he the same doll you brought to the bar? That was weird as hell, but I thought it looked like him when he was a kid.”

_Was..._

“Yamazaki...Is Rin still in Australia?”

“Yeah.” Sousuke raised a brow. “How do you know about that?”

“M-Matsuoka-san said.”

“Ah.” Sousuke turned back to the counter and carefully picked Gou-the-doll up. “Rin hasn’t been able to visit in a while, so Gou had been really looking forward to him coming to our engagement party.”

He sighed.

“He can’t make it though, and she’s very upset. Matsuoka-san must have thought seeing these dolls might help.”

“Oh...”

“Now that you know the story, will you give them to me?”

Haruka looked down at the doll in his hand.

Part of him did not want to let Rin go and wanted to convince Sousuke to leave him...but he could not.

_Gou needs you, Rin._

He patted the doll on the head-

_Goodbye..._

-and gave him to Sousuke.

“Thanks,” Sousuke said. “How much do I owe you?”

“Nothing.”

“Huh? You’re joking, right?”

Haruka prepared a box for the dolls.

“Consider them an engagement present from me too,” he said quietly, and placed the reference photo of Rin and Gou inside it.

“O-Oh uh thanks.”

“But Yamazaki.”

“Yeah?”

Haruka faced him.

“Promise me you’ll take good care of them.”

Sousuke was momentarily taken aback, but then he nodded.

“Of course.”

Claiming it felt weird to put the dolls in the box, Sousuke turned to go with it under his arm and them sitting on his palm.

Haruka let him, head lowered. He could not see Rin anymore, but in his mind’s eye, he still saw his face.

_“Haru, it won’t be goodbye, will it? When I wake up? We’ll meet again, right?”_

_Rin!_

“Yamazaki, stop!”

Puzzled, Sousuke turned back, and Haruka came out from behind the counter.

“I’d like to come with you,” he said.

“What?”

Haruka held out the handkerchief.

“I need to return this.”

“Then hand it over.”

Haruka shook his head.

“I want to thank her properly.”

“How do you run this place?” Sousuke grumbled. “Tch. Get in the car.”

...

The Whale Shark did not open until the late afternoon so it looked deserted when they got there.

At the sound of the car though, the front door opened, and a woman peered out.

“You’re late, Sousuke,” she called.

“Sorry,” he replied, and glanced pointedly at Haruka. He hid the dolls behind his jacket and hurried inside.

Hesitantly, Haruka followed.

When he entered the bar, the woman turned away from Sousuke, and her eyes widened.

“It’s you.” She smiled. “How’s your hand?”

“F-Fine,” Haruka managed.

_This is Gou._

Her uncanny resemblance to Matsuoka-san now made sense, and he could see Gou-the-doll in her too. Her lively smile was much nicer though.

Haruka held out the handkerchief.

“Thank you,” Gou said, accepting it. She winked. “Is your doll doing okay too?”

Beside her, Sousuke sighed.

“Gou...what was that about a doll?”

She eagerly told him how she and Haruka had met.

Resignedly, Sousuke presented her with the dolls.

“These are...for me?” Gou took them. Her eyes fell on Rin and suddenly, she gasped. “I thought this one looked familiar the other day! I-It’s onii-chan!”

Gou touched the doll’s cheek.

“My dumb onii-chan… I bet he’s nicer than the real thing though.”

“Gou,” Sousuke began, “you know Rin can’t help it... It must be tough training for the Olympics.”

Haruka eyes widened.

_He made it?_

“I know.” Gou sighed. “It’s just...I miss him a lot.”

_Rin...making her sad...this isn’t what you wanted._

“Does he feel the same though?” Gou’s voice shook.

“Gou...” Sousuke reached for her hand. “He...”

“I’m certain- Haruka began.

They turned, surprised.

“-that your brother loves you a lot, and wishes he could be by your side.” He smiled at Rin-the-doll in her hand. “And until he can be, I know this one will be more than happy to stand in his place.”

“...”

Gou wiped her eyes, and tentatively smiled. She looked down at the doll and her smile grew.

“You’re right.”

“Seriously, Nanase.” Sousuke crossed his arms. “Have you really not met Rin before?”

“I...”

“Even if you haven’t,” Gou said. “I think he’d like you. Do come to our engagement party. And the wedding too! I’m not letting onii-chan off the hook about _that_ ,” she joked.

“Gou-” Sousuke tried to cut in, but she linked their arms, and grinned at him.

“Don’t be shy. He’s your friend, right? It’ll be fun to have him there too.”

Red-faced, Sousuke looked away, and muttered that in that case, it might be best to take the underwater theme off the table.

Gou started to question him about that, when they heard the sound of a motorcycle noisily arrive out front.

Sousuke frowned.

“Does no one in this town care about hours of operation?”

He marched to the door and threw it open.

“We’re closed...” Sousuke trailed off.

The person on the step, with their hand raised to knock, was none other than Matsuoka-san.

“Mom?” Gou rushed over. “What brings you here?”

Matsuoka-san smiled at her and was right about to reply, when her eyes fell on Haruka.

“You’re...”

“Matsuoka-san,” Sousuke said quickly. “There’s a problem. Gou found out about the dolls, so the surprise is a bust.”

“Oh?” Matsuoka-san glanced from Haruka to Gou, to the dolls in her hands. Her eyes lit up.

“I love them, mom,” Gou said. “Thank you. And sorry for finding out about the surprise you had planned.”

Matsuoka-san shook her head.

“As long as you’re happy, it’s alright. Besides, I have an even better one.”

“Y-You do?”

“I came here from the airport.” Matsuoka-san winked. “Along with a special passenger.”

Sousuke and Gou shared a glance, and Haruka’s heart suddenly began to beat fast.

Matsuoka-san turned around and cupped her hands around her mouth.

“Son,” she called. “We’re ready for you now.”

And while Haruka, Sousuke, and Gou watched in shock, a man wearing a motorcycle helmet walked into the bar. He took the helmet off, shook out his red hair, and smiled at the group gathered there.

Haruka inhaled sharply

_That smile!_

It was unmistakably Rin.

“Onii-chan!” Gou exclaimed and bounded into his arms.

“Hey Gou,” Rin greeted, laughing.

“What are you doing here? What about your training?”

"I promised, didn’t I, that I’d visit." Rin moved a few strands of hair from her face. "I took leave."

“So you could come all along?” Sousuke punched him lightly on the shoulder. “You were just messing with us?”

Rin grinned.

“Don’t I make a great engagement present though?”

Sousuke face-palmed and Gou groaned.

Rin laughed again and pulled them both into a hug.

Over their heads, his eyes finally met Haruka’s. They widened.

“...”

It had not been particularly hard for Haruka to accept Gou as the real one. Gou-the doll had not come to life so while it _was_ a little weird, he had still been able to handle meeting her. But seeing Rin... Haruka could not take his eyes off him.

“O-Oh.” Gou broke the hug to show Rin the dolls. “Aren’t these dolls awesome, onii-chan?”

“Hey...” Rin took them. “Are they you and me?”

“Yeah! This gentleman here made them.”

Rin lifted up his look-alike.

“Heh. He looks like kind of a troublemaker, doesn’t he?”

“O-Onii-chan, don’t say that in front of doll maker-san!”

Rin grinned at Haruka.

“Keep an eye on this one, Gou. I wouldn’t be too surprised if he suddenly came to life.”

_What?_

Haruka started when someone touched his arm. He turned his head and saw Matsuoka-san.

“Don’t mind him, son. The dolls are wonderful. I heard from Sousuke-kun that you don’t want us to pay for them. I’m more than happy to though.”

Haruka glanced at Rin and Gou teasing each other about the dolls and laughing together. He smiled.

“It’s fine. This is enough.”

His answer caught Matsuoka-san by surprise, but after a moment, she smiled too.

“Thank you.”

Matsuoka-san let go of Haruka’s arm and went over to the others.

“We did some shopping on our way here,” she told Sousuke and Gou. “Can you help bring the bags in?”

In the hustle and bustle that followed, save for a cup of tea Sousuke brought Haruka, he guessed, on the Matsuokas’ request, he was mostly forgotten. Warming his hands with the cup, he watched from a bar stool as they brought in various things, including bags of baked goods and fabric samples for Gou’s wedding dress.

Their talk eventually turned to plans for the wedding, and before long, he felt it was time to go. He drank the tea and quietly went to the door.

At the threshold, Haruka looked back at Rin. He was laughing right then at something Sousuke had said.

Haruka smiled softly.

_I’m happy we met once more._

And he left the bar.

Though it was only noon, to him, it already felt like a long day. He began walking toward the street, when something came out from behind the motorcycle parked nearby and up to his feet.

“Meow.”

Haruka sighed.

“You again.” He crouched down to pat the tawny cat’s head. “Here to give me more trouble?”

The cat leapt forward, and he fell back. It landed on his chest and nosed the pockets of his work apron.

“He’s not with me anymore,” Haruka said.

The cat paused and lowered its ears.

“He’s happy though.” Haruka recalled Rin’s laugh. “So it’s alright.”

He pet the cat again, and rose.

“Wait,” a voice called behind him and he froze.

The cat mewed loudly and ran to the voice’s source.

“W-Woah!” They cried, and Haruka slowly turned to see Rin, standing in the bar door, struggling to balance a plate of pastries while the cat hung off him.

“C-Could you take this from me?” he implored, indicating the plate. “I might drop it!”

Haruka did, but the cat did not leave Rin.

“Geez,” he said, sitting on the step to pet it. “This cat’s been tailing us ever since we left the bakery. I didn’t expect it to come all the way here though.” He glanced at Haruka over the purring cat and nodded toward the pastries. “Have a bite.”

Haruka hesitantly sat beside him, and did.

_This is..._

“Mackerel filling,” Rin said. “Would you believe it? The guy at the counter said it was a new special. What do you think?”

Suddenly self-conscious, Haruka only nodded.

“...Quiet guy, huh?” Rin rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry if it got overwhelming in there. It’s been some time since I last saw Sousuke or Gou.”

“Don’t apologize,” Haruka replied. “I didn’t mind at all.”

Rin brightened at the sound of his voice.

“Why did you come out here?” Haruka asked, and beckoned the cat over with a handful of crumbs.

“I...”

Rin sighed.

“To be honest, it wasn’t easy for me to take leave. My coach wasn’t happy, and it does interrupt my training. I almost didn’t come.”

Haruka glanced at him.

“What changed your mind?”

Rin reached into his red leather jacket and pulled out Rin-the-doll.

“I took him when Gou wasn’t looking,” he said conspiratorially. “I couldn’t get a hold of mini-Gou though.”

“ _H-He_ did?”

Rin just smiled.

“When I left for Australia,” he began, “mom lent me a family album to remember them by. Not that I’d forget. And not long ago, she called to request a particular photo.”

Rin put his look-alike down, reached into his jacket again, and withdrew the reference photo Haruka had put in the box for the dolls.

“You carried that off too?”

“It was mine to begin with,” Rin laughed. “It’s part of the album.  He put the photo and Rin-the-doll side by side. “When I saw it though, I remembered something.”

Haruka looked at him questioningly.

“It was taken the last time I went to a wedding,” Rin answered. “I upset Gou then too... Long ago, when were kids.”

“...How did that turn out?”

“Well...” Rin turned his face up to the sky.

...

A small hand tugging at his drew eleven-year-old Rin out of his curious dream where he had become a doll.

He groggily lifted his head off the table he had fallen asleep on and felt the pattern of the lace tablecloth printed on his cheek. He touched it and a shock ran through him at the feeling of soft skin and not wood like in the dream.

_I've...woken up..._

The dream's last events came back to him in a torrent: being stolen by the cat, the feeling of falling, and the sight of deep blue eyes filled with concern above him.

“Onii-chan.”

Rin started and turned to see his little sister standing next to him. Her hand was on his, but she would not meet his eyes.

“Come back to our table,” she said, pouting.

Rin’s eyes widened.

Gou withdrew her hand and looked away.

“I’m still mad at you,” she stated. “I only came here because mom made me.”

“Gou...” Rin’s voice shook.

She looked back, alarmed.

“O-Onii-chan...are you crying? Don’t be a baby! See, even I stopped!”

Rin wiped his eyes and reached for her hand.

“Onii-chan?”

“Gou,” Rin began, “I’m sorry for yelling at you before. I-I still won’t be able to take you with me to Australia, but I’ll visit you. And...I’ll miss you. One day, we’ll go together, okay?”

Gou gaped at him.

“O-Onii-chan, are you sick?”

Rin laughed, and after a moment, Gou laughed with him.

“Promise you’ll visit often?”

Rin nodded firmly and they sealed it by pinky-swearing.

“Did you have a good dream?” Gou asked as they walked, hand in hand, back to their table.

“It was really something,” Rin chuckled. “And I got to meet someone amazing.”

“In your dream? Doesn’t that mean they’re gone now?”

Rin shook his head.

“I made a promise with him too,” he said. “That we’ll meet again.”

“Hm. You’d better keep all these promises you’re making onii-chan...”

Rin laughed again, and before long, they reached their table.

“Gou-chan, Rin-chan,” their mother called. “Is everything okay now?”

“Yes,” Rin affirmed, and smiled at his sister.

"Wonderful." Their mother clapped. "Oh, let me take a picture!"

Rin slung his arm around Gou’s shoulders and they both beamed at the camera.

...

“We made up,” Rin said, and turned back to Haruka. “When I saw that photo, I remembered what happened at that time and the promise I made to her. I had to come then.”

Haruka felt the corners of his mouth lift up, and hastily covered it with his hand.

“It’s funny though...that time with Gou isn’t the only old memory I’ve felt like I’ve been reliving recently...”

Rin spread his arms.

“These streets, and some of the people I’ve met in this town...like the guy at the bakery and the two at the fabric store...even Sousuke’s dingy bar...it’s all weirdly familiar to me for some reason.”

The cat moved from Haruka over to Rin and he scratched it behind the ears.

“This guy too,” he laughed.

“Is that so?” Under Haruka's hand, his smile grew.

“Yeah. I sort of feel like I’ve experienced it all in a dream.”

Haruka picked up Rin-the-doll, no longer trying to hide his smile. He looked at Rin and found him smiling back.

“You know what’s the most familiar to me though?”

“Hm?”

Rin beamed.

“You,” he said. “Hey... Could your name be Haru?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end~
> 
> This story was originally supposed to be three to five chapters, but here were are lol Thank you for reading to the end, and for all the feedback too!!! I don't know if I'd have been able to get this far without it :) I hope we'll meet again! Until then!
> 
> P.S. I've made a [Tumblr account](https://anhourmax.tumblr.com/). There's not much on there now, but feel free to say hi :)


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